This thesis describes the first step of an investigation of porcine chromosome 3 (SSC3) for genes associated with reproduction traits. Based on published data, we have identified 764 markers for pig that have orthologues in the human genome. The locations of these markers were used as landmarks to annotate the porcine genome based on comparison with the human genome through a CSAM (contiguous sets of autosomal markers) approach. The analysis identified 95 CSAMs between human and porcine autosomes, which revealed that SSC3 is homologous to regions of human chromosomes 2, 7 and 16. One hundred and seven primer pairs were designed to amplify markers covering these homologous human segments. These markers were typed on a radiation hybrid panel to construct the most detailed linkage map of SSC3 yet available. In addition, a polymorphism in the 'NCOA1' gene, located on SSC3, was shown to be associated with ovulation rate in a Meishan * Large White test population (p = 0.0087).