The Wnt family features conserved glycoproteins that play roles in tissue regeneration, animal development and cell proliferation and differentiation. For its functional diversity and importance, this family has been studied in several species, but not in the Bovinae. Herein we identified 19 Wnt genes in cattle, and seven other species of Bovinae, and described their corresponding protein properties. Phylogenetic analysis clustered the 149 Wnt proteins in Bovinae, and 38 Wnt proteins from the human and mouse into 12 major clades. Wnt genes from the same subfamilies shared similar protein motif compositions and exon–intron patterns. Chromosomal distribution and collinearity analysis revealed that they were conservative in cattle and five species of Bovinae. RNA-seq data analysis indicated that Wnt genes exhibited tissue-specific expression in cattle. qPCR analysis revealed a unique expression pattern of each gene during bovine adipocytes differentiation. Finally, the comprehensive analysis indicated that Wnt2B may regulate adipose differentiation by activating FZD5, which is worthy of further study. Our study presents the first genome-wide study of the Wnt gene family in Bovinae, and lays the foundation for further functional characterization of this family in bovine adipocytes differentiation.
Background: The objective of this study was to explore the genetic parameters of conformation traits and milk production traits of Chinese Holstein cattles in Northwest China, and to provide a reference for dairy cattle breeding in this region. The phenotypic data of 23 conformation traits and 5 milk production traits of 7,930 Chinese Holsteins from 18 pastures from 2007 to 2020 were collected. With field, identification season, calving season, and appraiser effect as a fixed effect and individual additive genetic effect as a random effect, DMU package and AIREML combined with EM algorithm were used to estimate the genetic parameters of conformation traits and milk production traits. Results: The estimated heritability of conformation traits ranged from 0.11 (angularity) to 0.37 (heel dept), and the genetic correlation between conformation traits ranged from -0.73 (bone quality and rear leg-rear view) to 0.76 (chest width and loin strength). The estimated values of genetic correlation between conformation traits and milk production traits ranged from -0.31 (pin setting and milk yield) to 0.34 (stature and milk yield), -0.33 (pin setting and 305-d fat) to 0.57 (breast texture and 305-d fat), -0.32 (pin setting and 305-d protein) to 0.38 (udder texture and 305-d protein), and -0.43, respectively (heel dept and somatic cell score) ~ 0.34 (body depth and somatic cell score) and -0.56 (foot angle and 305-d milk yield) ~ 0.32 (body depth and 305-d milk yield). There was a positive genetic correlation between most conformation traits and 305-d fat and 305-d protein, but a weak genetic negative correlation with milk yield. Conclusions: Strengthening the selection of medium and high heritability of milk production traits and conformation traits, especially the selection of rear udder traits and body shape total score, was beneficial to improve the performance of dairy cows.
The objective of this study was to explore the genetic parameters of conformation traits and milk production traits in Chinese Holstein cattle and to provide a reference for dairy cattle breeding. We collected the phenotypic data of 23 conformation traits and five milk production traits of Chinese Holsteins and used animal models to estimate the genetic parameters of conformation traits and milk production traits. The estimated heritability of conformation traits ranged from 0.11 (angularity) to 0.37 (heel depth) and the genetic correlation between conformation traits ranged from −0.73 (bone quality and rear leg-rear view) to 0.76 (chest width and loin strength). The heritability of milk production traits ranged from 0.23 (somatic cell score) to 0.50 (305-d milk yield). The estimated values of genetic correlation between conformation traits and milk production traits ranged from −0.56 (heel depth and 305-d milk yield) to 0.57 (udder texture and milk fat percentage). There was a positive genetic correlation between most conformation traits and milk fat percentage, but a weak negative genetic correlation with milk yield. Strengthening the moderately and highly heritable milk production and conformation traits, especially the selection of rear udder traits and body shape total score, will be beneficial in improving the performance of dairy cows.
Animal growth is a coordinated developmental process that requires altering the expression of hundreds to thousands of genes to modify many biochemical and biological signaling cascades. The genetic analysis of economic traits and molecular breeding research are hotspots for animal husbandry and, in the case of Chinese dairy cattle, much progress has been made in recent years. Actually, the level of information of molecular events at the transcriptional, biochemical, hormonal, and metabolite levels underlying animal development process has increased considerably. The current review summarizes progress in research into the genetic basis of economic traits and molecular breeding of dairy cows, dual-purpose cattle and dairy buffalo, to better understand the molecular switch involved in development process with important consequences from a breeding point of view.
Wnt is a family of conserved glycoproteins that functions in a variety of crucial biological processes including tissue regeneration, animal development, and cell proliferation and differentiation. For its functional diversity and importance, Wnt gene family has gained considerable research interest in a variety of species. However, comprehensive identification and analysis of Wnt genes in Bovinae is lacking. In this study, we identified the repertoire of Wnt genes in cattle and seven other species of Bovinae and obtained 19 Wnt genes. Protein properties of these Wnt genes were also described. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the 149 Wnt proteins in Bovinae, together with 38 Wnt proteins from human and mouse, were clustered into 12 major clades. The Wnt genes belonging to the same subfamilies shared similar protein motif compositions and exon-intron patterns. Chromosomal distribution and collinearity analysis of Wnt genes among cattle and five species of Bovinae revealed that this gene family was conservative in evolution. RNA-seq data analysis indicated that Wnt genes exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns in cattle. qPCR analysis of Wnt gene family showed that each gene had a unique expression pattern during bovine adipocytes differentiation. And the comprehensive analysis indicated that Wnt2B may regulate adipose differentiation through activation of FZD5, which is worthy of further study. Our study presents the first genome-wide study of Wnt gene family in Bovinae, and lay the foundation for further functional characterization of the Wnt family in bovine adipocytes differentiation.
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