A PLAG1 mutation contributed to stature recovery in modern cattle

Abstract

The recent evolution of cattle is marked by fluctuations in body size. Height in the Bos taurus lineage was reduced by a factor of ~1.5 from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, and increased again only during the Early Modern Ages. Using haplotype analysis, we found evidence that the bovine PLAG1 mutation (Q) with major effects on body size, weight and reproduction is a >1,000 years old derived allele that increased rapidly in frequency in Northwestern European B. taurus between the 16th and 18th centuries. Towards the 19th and 20th centuries, Q was introgressed into non-European B. taurus and Bos indicus breeds. These data implicate a major role of Q in recent changes in body size in modern cattle, and represent one of the first examples of a genomic sweep in livestock that was driven by selection on a complex trait.

Harnessing genomic information for livestock improvement

“…A selective force on a locus that leads to a steady state whereby multiple alleles are simultaneously maintained in the population, rather than one allele becoming fixed at the expense of the others. www.nature.com/nrg effect on stature may occur because, after an extended period of selection for smaller cattle (in comparison to the ancestral auroch), larger cows are now preferred for some breeds in some countries but not others 112,139 . Moreover, the PLAG1 variants that increase stature may negatively affect fertility, particularly age at puberty 140 .…”

Hornless Nellore cattle (Bos indicus) carrying a novel 110 kbp duplication variant of the polled locus

“…4,5 However, haplotype analyses suggested that the Nellore P allele has a taurine origin. 6 Here, we identify a novel P allele in Nellore cattle.…”

“…1c), in agreement with previous reports of B. taurus introgression in the breed. 6,11 A previous haplotype coalescence analysis 6 indicated that the introgression event occurred after imports of B. indicus animals from India to Brazil between the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. Plausible donor B. taurus populations include polled creole breeds from the westcentral region of Brazil, which descend from Iberian cattle imported after 1492.…”

“…4,5 To perform the association analysis, milk production in kg (MP), fat percentage (FAT), lactose percentage, protein percentage and somatic cell count (SSC) were recorded at approximately monthly intervals throughout lactation with a maximum of 12 months of lactation per animal. Variable SSC values were transformed into somatic cell scores (SCSs) using the following equation 6 :…”

Genome‐wide scan of selection signatures in Dehong humped cattle for heat tolerance and disease resistance

“…Populations approximately 1.6 Mbp apart from PLAG1 (25 007 291-25 009 296 bp), a gene that was selected for stature in several cattle populations around the world (Utsunomiya et al 2017), including Chinese breeds (Hou et al 2019). The signature is known to extend several million bp on chromosome 14 and therefore we cannot discard the possibility that our signal may also be related to PLAG1.…”