Dr. Snelling's research is focused on constructing genome maps of livestock, and integrating those maps with other information about mammalian genomes.  The maps locate DNA landmarks, or markers, on individual chromosomes.  The markers can be associated with economically important traits to determine regions of chromosomes that contain variation in DNA that affects performance.  By themselves, the maps provide little information about what genes might be involved, and what role those genes play.  Information about genes and gene functions, described for humans and model organisms, can be transferred to livestock, where livestock DNA is similar to other species.  Consolidating the marker maps, livestock DNA sequence and comparative annotation helps other scientists identify specific genes and variation within those genes that affects livestock performance.