Genome-wide association study for growth traits in Blanco Orejinegro and Romosinuano cattle

AbstractGrowth traits are economically important characteristics for the genetic improvement of local cattle breeds. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provide valuable information to enhance the understanding on the genetics of complex traits. The aim of this study was to perform a GWAS to identify genomic regions and genes associated to birth weight, weaning weight adjusted for 240  days, 16 months, and 24 months weight in Romosinuano (ROMO) and Blanco Orejinegro (BON) cattle. A single-step genomic-BLUP was implemented using 596 BON and 569 ROMO individuals that were genotyped with an Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip. There were 25 regions of interest identified on different c hromosomes, with few of them simultaneously associated with two or more growth traits and some were common to both breeds. The gene mapping allowed to find 173 annotations on these regions, from which 49 represent potential candidate genes with known growth-related functions in cattle and other spec ies. Among the regions that were associated with several growth traits, that at 24 – 27 MB of BTA14, has important candidate genes such as LYPLA1, XKR4, TMEM68 and PLAG1. Another region of interest at 0.40–0.77 Mb of BTA23 was identified in both breeds, containing KHDRBS2 as a potential candid ate gene influencing body weight. Future studies targeting these regions could provide more knowledge to uncover the genetic architecture underlying growth traits in BON and ROMO cattle. The genomic regions...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research