A primer on sequencing and genotype imputation in cattle

Since their introduction to the beef industry, genotyping technologies have opened the door for genomic selection and accelerated population improvement. Single-nucleotide polymorphism arrays have served as the backbone of genomic selection programs since their introduction. Developments in sequencing and genotype imputation offer alternatives to array-based genotyping that have the potential to provide orders of magnitude more information at a lower cost. In this review, I give an overview of array-based genotyping, genomic sequencing, low-pass sequencing, and imputation. Additionally, I provide perspectives on how low-coverage sequencing and imputation could simultaneously drive genomic discovery and be used for routine genotyping as sequencing costs continue to decline.