Distribution and location of genetic effects for dairy traits
TL;DR: A high-density scan using 38,416 single nucleotide polymorphism markers for 5,285 bulls confirmed 2 previously known major genes on Bos taurus autosomes (BTA) 6 and 14 but revealed few other large effects as discussed by the authors.
About: This article is published in Journal of Dairy Science.The article was published on 2009-06-01 and is currently open access. It has received 224 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Quantitative trait locus & Allele.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: The results support a polygenic inheritance pattern of ACOP in cattle and provide the basis for efficient genomic selection of animals that are less susceptible to serious eye diseases.
Abstract: Pigmentation patterns allow for the differentiation of cattle breeds. A dominantly inherited white head is characteristic for animals of the Fleckvieh (FV) breed. However, a minority of the FV animals exhibits peculiar pigmentation surrounding the eyes (ambilateral circumocular pigmentation, ACOP). In areas where animals are exposed to increased solar ultraviolet radiation, ACOP is associated with a reduced susceptibility to bovine ocular squamous cell carcinoma (BOSCC, eye cancer). Eye cancer is the most prevalent malignant tumour affecting cattle. Selection for animals with ACOP rapidly reduces the incidence of BOSCC. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying ACOP, we performed a genome-wide association study using 658,385 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The study population consisted of 3579 bulls of the FV breed with a total of 320,186 progeny with phenotypes for ACOP. The proportion of progeny with ACOP was used as a quantitative trait with high heritability (h2 = 0.79). A variance component based approach to account for population stratification uncovered twelve QTL regions on seven chromosomes. The identified QTL point to MCM6, PAX3, ERBB3, KITLG, LEF1, DKK2, KIT, CRIM1, ATRN, GSDMC, MITF and NBEAL2 as underlying genes for eye area pigmentation in cattle. The twelve QTL regions explain 44.96% of the phenotypic variance of the proportion of daughters with ACOP. The chromosomes harbouring significantly associated SNPs account for 54.13% of the phenotypic variance, while another 19.51% of the phenotypic variance is attributable to chromosomes without identified QTL. Thus, the missing heritability amounts to 7% only. Our results support a polygenic inheritance pattern of ACOP in cattle and provide the basis for efficient genomic selection of animals that are less susceptible to serious eye diseases.
46 citations
TL;DR: The results of the cLDLA method outperformed the MLMA in accuracy and precision and allowed for a more precise mapping and the definition of ancestral and derived QTL alleles, both of which are essential for the detection of underlying quantitative trait nucleotides.
45 citations
TL;DR: Two strategies to validate previously detected QTL when new data is added from the same study population are compared including all data presently available to only analyzing a validation dataset (VAL) i.e. a new dataset not previously analyzed as an independent replication.
Abstract: There is often a pronounced disagreement between results obtained from different genome-wide association studies in cattle. There are multiple reasons for this disagreement. Particularly the presence of false positives leads to a need to validate detected QTL before they are optimally incorporated or weighted in selection decisions or further studied for causal gene. In dairy cattle progeny testing scheme new data is routinely accumulated which can be used to validate previously discovered associations. However, the data is not an independent sample and the sample size may not be sufficient to have enough power to validate previous discoveries. Here we compared two strategies to validate previously detected QTL when new data is added from the same study population. We compare analyzing a combined dataset (COMB) including all data presently available to only analyzing a validation dataset (VAL) i.e. a new dataset not previously analyzed as an independent replication. Secondly, we confirm SNP detected in the Reference population (REF) (i.e. previously analyzed dataset consists of older bulls) in the VAL dataset. Clearly the results from the combined (COMB) dataset which had nearly twice the sample size of other two subsets allowed the detection of far more significant associations than the two smaller subsets. The number of significant SNPs in REF (older bulls) was about four times higher compare to VAL (younger bulls) though both had similar sample sizes, 2,219 and 2,039 respectively. A total of 424 SNP-trait combinations on 22 chromosomes showed genome-wide significant association involving 284 unique SNPs in the COMB dataset. In the REF data set 101 associations (73 unique SNPs) and in the VAL 24 associations (18 unique SNPs) were found genome-wide significant. Sixty-eight percent of the SNPs in the REF dataset could be confirmed in the VAL dataset. Out of 469 unique SNPs showing chromosome-wide significant association with calving traits in the REF dataset 321 could be confirmed in the VAL dataset at P < 0.05. The follow-up study for GWAS in cattle will depend on the aim of the study. If the aim is to discover novel QTL, analyses of the COMB dataset is recommended, while in case of identification of the causal mutation underlying a QTL, confirmation of the discovered SNPs are necessary to avoid following a false positive.
45 citations
18 Nov 2016
TL;DR: This review highlights key tissues, metabolic pathways and genes of importance in lactating dairy cattle, particularly early in lactation, followed by the important endocrine adaptations during negative energy balance.
Abstract: Milk and dairy products are valuable sources of food for humans. Increased milk yield and changes in milk composition in dairy cows have been achieved through a variety of means including better nutrition, management and genetic selection. This selection can be performed without consideration of the specific genes and genetic variation involved. However, association analysis using dense SNP genotyping panels provides an approach for identifying genomic regions affecting milk production. Coupling physiological and metabolic information with association analysis results can provide greater insight into the specific genetic variants and molecular mechanisms affecting production traits as well as the potential effects of these variants on fertility in dairy cattle. To this end, this review highlights key tissues, metabolic pathways and genes of importance in lactating dairy cattle, particularly early in lactation. Physiological and metabolic adaptations in three key tissues (adipose, mammary gland and liver) are discussed, followed by the important endocrine adaptations during negative energy balance. Key genes mediating metabolic and endocrine adaptations are also highlighted. Finally, genes that account for variation in production traits are presented in relation to the tissues and processes described. Knowledge of the genes and pathways involved will be important for ongoing efforts aimed at finding other genes and variants that contribute to milk production and fertility traits. Also, a better understanding of the molecular basis of these traits may lead to more accurate genomic predictions.
45 citations
TL;DR: Genetic variants in the involution pathway explained considerably more genetic variation in milk production traits than expected by chance, and many of the associations for single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes in this pathway have not been detected in conventional genome-wide association studies.
Abstract: Background: The maintenance of lactation in mammals is the result of a balance between competing signals from mammary development, prolactin signalling and involution pathways. Dairy cattle are an interesting case study to investigate the effect of polymorphisms that affect the function of genes in these pathways. In dairy cattle, lactation yields and milk composition (for example protein percentage and fat percentage) are routinely recorded, and these vary greatly between individuals. In this study, we test 8058 single nucleotide polymorphisms in or close to genes in these pathways for association with milk production traits and determine the proportion of variance explained by each pathway, using data on 16 812 dairy cattle, including Holstein-Friesian and Jersey bulls and cows. Results: Single nucleotide polymorphisms close to genes in the mammary development, prolactin signalling and involution pathways were significantly associated with milk production traits. The involution pathway explained the largest proportion of genetic variation for production traits. The mammary development pathway also explained additional genetic variation for milk volume, fat percentage and protein percentage. Conclusions: Genetic variants in the involution pathway explained considerably more genetic variation in milk production traits than expected by chance. Many of the associations for single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes in this pathway have not been detected in conventional genome-wide association studies. The pathway approach used here allowed us to identify some novel candidates for further studies that will be aimed at refining the location of associated genomic regions and identifying polymorphisms contributing to variation in lactation volume and milk composition.
43 citations
References
More filters
Book•
01 Jan 1981
TL;DR: The genetic constitution of a population: Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and changes in gene frequency: migration mutation, changes of variance, and heritability are studied.
Abstract: Part 1 Genetic constitution of a population: Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Part 2 Changes in gene frequency: migration mutation. Part 3 Small populations - changes in gene frequency under simplified conditions. Part 4 Small populations - less simplified conditions. Part 5 Small populations - pedigreed populations and close inbreeding. Part 6 Continuous variation. Part 7 Values and means. Part 8 Variance. Part 9 Resemblance between relatives. Part 10 Heritability. Part 11 Selection - the response and its prediction. Part 12 Selection - the results of experiments. Part 13 Selection - information from relatives. Part 14 Inbreeding and crossbreeding - changes of mean value. Part 15 Inbreeding and crossbreeding - changes of variance. Part 16 Inbreeding and crossbreeding - applications. Part 17 Scale. Part 18 Threshold characters. Part 19 Correlated characters. Part 20 Metric characters under natural selection.
20,288 citations
TL;DR: It was concluded that selection on genetic values predicted from markers could substantially increase the rate of genetic gain in animals and plants, especially if combined with reproductive techniques to shorten the generation interval.
Abstract: Recent advances in molecular genetic techniques will make dense marker maps available and genotyping many individuals for these markers feasible. Here we attempted to estimate the effects of ∼50,000 marker haplotypes simultaneously from a limited number of phenotypic records. A genome of 1000 cM was simulated with a marker spacing of 1 cM. The markers surrounding every 1-cM region were combined into marker haplotypes. Due to finite population size (Ne = 100), the marker haplotypes were in linkage disequilibrium with the QTL located between the markers. Using least squares, all haplotype effects could not be estimated simultaneously. When only the biggest effects were included, they were overestimated and the accuracy of predicting genetic values of the offspring of the recorded animals was only 0.32. Best linear unbiased prediction of haplotype effects assumed equal variances associated to each 1-cM chromosomal segment, which yielded an accuracy of 0.73, although this assumption was far from true. Bayesian methods that assumed a prior distribution of the variance associated with each chromosome segment increased this accuracy to 0.85, even when the prior was not correct. It was concluded that selection on genetic values predicted from markers could substantially increase the rate of genetic gain in animals and plants, especially if combined with reproductive techniques to shorten the generation interval.
6,036 citations
TL;DR: Efficient methods for processing genomic data were developed to increase reliability of estimated breeding values and to estimate thousands of marker effects simultaneously, and a blend of first- and second-order Jacobi iteration using 2 separate relaxation factors converged well for allele frequencies and effects.
4,196 citations
TL;DR: Genotypes for 38,416 markers and August 2003 genetic evaluations for 3,576 Holstein bulls born before 1999 were used to predict January 2008 daughter deviations and genomic prediction improves reliability by tracing the inheritance of genes even with small effects.
1,166 citations