Animal Molecular Breeding, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 82-90 http://animalscipublisher.com/index.php/amb 88 MAS is very useful in accelerating genetic progress, precision in selection, and reduction of improvement time in tilapia breeding. Technology allows early identification of those with favorable alleles and therefore improves selection efficiency compared to phenotypic selection. In practice, breeding programs such as GenoMar have recorded consistent progress in key production traits by generations through MAS. The strategy has also been at the heart of hormone-free production of Genetically Male Tilapia (GMT), a strategy that is concordant with environmental sustainability and consumer safety standards. Such applied effects demonstrate MAS to be a scientifically proven and industry-relevant strategy that contributes directly to profitability and robustness in modern aquaculture operations. In the future, there should again be an attempt made to link large-scale breeding programs with molecular tools to further enhance the efficiency of MAS in tilapia breeding. Genomic Selection (GS) based on genome-wide marker data to predict breeding values can be employed as an adjunct to MAS to consider the cumulative effect of many small-effect loci contributing to complex traits. High-throughput genotyping technologies such as SNP arrays and next-generation sequencing would have to be embraced in order to facilitate fast and cost-effective screening of the markers in large populations. CRISPR gene editing technologies will also be utilized strategically to facilitate efficient manipulation of the target genes, resulting in the quick generation of improved strains. The integration of breeding platforms that conjoin pedigree-based selection with MAS, GS, and gene editing will be decisive to the future of genetic improvement. Combined methodologies will allow the breeders to address multigenic breeding objectives more satisfactorily and thus drive tilapia aquaculture towards increased precision, productivity, and responsiveness to world concerns. Acknowledgments The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for their feedback on the manuscript of this study. Their thorough review and constructive suggestions contributed to the improvement of the manuscript. Conflict of Interest Disclosure The authors affirm that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. References Abdoli-Nasab M., and Rahimi M., 2020, Association analysis of traits in watermelon genotypes using molecular markers, Iranian Journal of Science and Technology, Transactions A: Science, 44(2): 361-369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40995-020-00837-z Avallone A., Bartie K., Selly S., Taslima K., Mendoza A., and Bekaert M., 2020, Local ancestry inference provides insight into Tilapia breeding programmes, Scientific Reports, 10(1): 18789. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75744-9 Barría A., Peñaloza C., Papadopoulou A., Mahmuddin M., Doeschl-Wilson A., Benzie J., Houston R., and Wiener P., 2023, Genetic differentiation following recent domestication events: A study of farmed Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) populations, Evolutionary Applications, 16(6): 1220-1235. https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13560 Chen C., Huang C., Lin C., Ho C., Pham H., Hsu T., Lin T., Chen R., Yang S., Chang C., and Gong H., 2021, Development of disease-resistance-associated microsatellite DNA markers for selective breeding of Tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) farmed in Taiwan, Genes, 13(1): 99. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13010099 Chen C., Li B., Gu X., Lin H., and Xia J., 2018, Marker-assisted selection of YY supermales from a genetically improved farmed tilapia-derived strain, Zoological Research, 40(2): 108-112. https://doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2018.071 Chen S., 2024, Advances in molecular breeding of forage crops: technologies, applications and prospects, Agriculture, 14(2): 279. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14020279 Curzon A., Shirak A., Zak T., Dor L., Benet-Perlberg A., Naor A., Low-Tanne S., Sharkawi H., Ron M., and Seroussi E., 2021, All-male production by marker-assisted selection for sex determining loci of admixed Oreochromis niloticus and Oreochromis aureus stocks, Animal Genetics, 52(6): 734-744. https://doi.org/10.1111/age.13057 Du B., Wu J., Wang Q., Sun C., Sun G., Zhou J., Zhang L., Xiong Q., Ren X., and Lu B., 2024, Genome-wide screening of meta-QTL and candidate genes controlling yield and yield-related traits in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), PLOS ONE, 19(3): e0303751. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303751
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