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Breed- and trait-specific associations define the genetic architecture of calving performance traits in cattle
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2020-05-04
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Deirdre C Purfield, Ross D Evans, Donagh P Berry, Breed- and trait-specific associations define the genetic architecture of calving performance traits in cattle, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 98, Issue 5, May 2020, skaa151, https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaa151
Abstract
Reducing the incidence of both the degree of assistance required at calving, as well as the extent of perinatal mortality (PM)
has both economic and societal benefits. The existence of heritable genetic variability in both traits signifies the presence
of underlying genomic variability. The objective of the present study was to locate regions of the genome, and by extension
putative genes and mutations, that are likely to be underpinning the genetic variability in direct calving difficulty (DCD),
maternal calving difficulty (MCD), and PM. Imputed whole-genome single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data on up to
8,304 Angus (AA), 17,175 Charolais (CH), 16,794 Limousin (LM), and 18,474 Holstein-Friesian (HF) sires representing 5,866,712
calving events from descendants were used. Several putative quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions associated with calving
performance both within and across dairy and beef breeds were identified, although the majority were both breed- and
trait-specific. QTL surrounding and encompassing the myostatin (MSTN) gene were associated (P < 5 × 10−8) with DCD and
PM in both the CH and LM populations. The well-known Q204X mutation was the fifth strongest association with DCD
in the CH population and accounted for 5.09% of the genetic variance in DCD. In contrast, none of the 259 segregating
variants in MSTN were associated (P > × 10−6) with DCD in the LM population but a genomic region 617 kb downstream of
MSTN was associated (P < 5 × 10−8). The genetic architecture for DCD differed in the HF population relative to the CH and
LM, where two QTL encompassing ZNF613 on Bos taurus autosome (BTA)18 and PLAG1 on BTA14 were identified in the
former. Pleiotropic SNP associated with all three calving performance traits were also identified in the three beef breeds;
5 SNP were pleiotropic in AA, 116 in LM, and 882 in CH but no SNP was associated with more than one trait within the HF
population. The majority of these pleiotropic SNP were on BTA2 surrounding MSTN and were associated with both DCD and
PM. Multiple previously reported, but also novel QTL, associated with calving performance were detected in this large study.
These also included QTL regions harboring SNP with the same direction of allele substitution effect for both DCD and MCD
thus contributing to a more effective simultaneous selection for both traits.