Martin Johnsson

PhD in genetics

Researcher at The Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Email address: first name full stop last name at slu full stop se

Twitter account: @martinj

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1262-4585

Curriculum vitae

Publications

Full publication list at my Google Scholar profile.

Blog

I keep a blog called On unicorns and genes about genetics and related things.

Interests

Here are some of the topics in genetics that interest me, with some related papers that I've been involved in:

Population genomics. With plentiful whole-genome sequence, one can describe the genetic variation of populations in ever finer detail. I am interested in genetic variation, signatures of selection and recombination rate variation in domestic and feral animals.

Related papers:

• Johnsson et al. 2016 Feralisation targets different genomic loci to domestication in the chicken
• Johnsson et al. 2018 Sequence variation, evolutionary constraint, and selection at the CD163 gene in pigs
• Johnsson, Whalen et al. 2021 Genetic variation in recombination rate in the pig

Genetic mapping of complex traits. I am interested in the genetic basis of complex traits that matter to farm animals, such as body size and bone quality. Mapping the genetic basis of molecular traits such as transcript levels ("eQTL mapping") can help with identifying causative genes for quantitative traits, and also give us large sets of genetic associations to analyse.

Related papers:

• Johnsson et al. 2018 Genetical genomics of growth in a chicken model
• Johnsson et al. 2016 Genetical Genomics of Behavior: A Novel Chicken Genomic Model for Anxiety Behavior
• Johnsson et al. 2015 Genetic Regulation of Bone Metabolism in the Chicken: Similarities and Differences to Mammalian Systems

Deleterious variation. Deleterious variants are the most tractable functional variants, and can be detected either by genotype-first or sequence-first methods. They raise all kinds of interesting management questions for breeding programs.

Related papers:

• Ablondi et al. 2022 Performance of Swedish Warmblood fragile foal syndrome carriers and breeding prospects
• Johnsson et al. 2019 Removal of alleles by genome editing (RAGE) against deleterious load
• Jenko et al. 2019 Analysis of a large dataset reveals haplotypes carrying putatively recessive lethal and semi-lethal alleles with pleiotropic effects on economically important traits in beef cattle

Domestication. Domestic animals differ from their wild relatives in many ways, including behavioural differences towards humans and other complex traits. I have been involved in genetic mapping of complex traits in chicken domestication.

Related papers:

• Johnsson et al. 2021 The neural crest cell hypothesis: no unified explanation for domestication
• Henriksen et al. 2016 The domesticated brain: genetics of brain mass and brain structure in an avian species
• Fallahsharoudi et al. 2017 QTL mapping of stress related gene expression in a cross between domesticated chickens and ancestral red junglefowl

Dissertation

I defended my PhD, Genomics of chicken domestication and feralisation, from Linköping University, on the 18th of December 2015. The cover art was made by Alexander Hultberg.