Association of a single nucleotide polymorphism in ribosomal protein L27a gene with marbling in Japanese Black beef cattle

Abstract

Marbling, defined by the amount and distribution of intramuscular fat, is an economically important trait of beef cattle in Japan. The c2-11#2 expressed sequence tag (EST) has been previously shown to possess expression difference in musculus longissimus muscle between low-marbled and high-marbled steer groups, and to be located within genomic region of a quantitative trait locus for marbling. Thus, the ribosomal protein L27a (RPL27A) gene containing the c2-11#2 EST sequence was considered as a positional candidate for the gene responsible for marbling. In the present study, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter region of the RPL27A, referred to as g.3109537C>T, was detected between the 2 steer groups. The SNP was associated with the predicted breeding value for beef marbling standard number by the analyses using Japanese Black beef cattle population. The effect of genotypes of the SNP on the predicted breeding value for subcutaneous fat thickness was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that the RPL27A SNP may be useful for effective marker-assisted selection to increase the levels of marbling in Japanese Black beef cattle.

Distribution of allele frequencies at TTN g.231054C > T, RPL27A g.3109537C > T and AKIRIN2 c.*188G > A between Japanese Black and four other cattle breeds with differing historical selection for marbling

“…The titin ( TTN ) [5], ribosomal protein L27a ( RPL27A ) [6] and akirin 2 ( AKIRIN2 ) genes [7] have been regarded as positional functional candidates for the genes responsible for marbling. We have reported that 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), referred to as g.231054C > T , g.3109537C > T and c.*188G > A , respectively, were detected in the 5' flanking region of the TTN [5], the 5' flanking region of the RPL27A [6] and the 3' untranslated region of the AKIRIN2 [7], between low-marbled and high-marbled steer groups, which were shown to have TTN , RPL27A and AKIRIN2 expression differences in musculus longissimus muscle [8].…”

“…We have reported that 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), referred to as g.231054C > T , g.3109537C > T and c.*188G > A , respectively, were detected in the 5' flanking region of the TTN [5], the 5' flanking region of the RPL27A [6] and the 3' untranslated region of the AKIRIN2 [7], between low-marbled and high-marbled steer groups, which were shown to have TTN , RPL27A and AKIRIN2 expression differences in musculus longissimus muscle [8]. Further, we have shown association of the 3 SNPs with marbling in Japanese Black beef cattle, with the g.231054C > T T [5], g.3109537C > T T [6] and c.*188G > A A alleles [7] resulting in higher levels of marbling.…”

“…The g.231054C > T , g.3109537C > T and c.*188G > A SNPs were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method using restriction enzymes Hpy CH4III [5], Bsu 36I [6] and Fok I [7], respectively.…”

“…Thus, this study, together with the previous association studies [5-7], suggests that the 3 SNPs may be useful for effective marker-assisted selection to increase the levels of marbling. In previous study, we supposed that the TTN g.231054C > T [5], RPL27A g.3109537C > T [6] and AKIRIN2 c.*188G > A SNPs [7] might affect gene expression and also marbling through affecting promoter activity or mRNA stability. The high frequencies of the g.231054C > T T , g.3109537C > T T and c.*188G > A A alleles and of the g.231054C > T T and c.*188G > A A alleles in Japanese Black and Japanese Brown breeds, respectively, out of the 5 cattle breeds may imply that the 3 SNPs have an direct impact on marbling.…”

Association of Three Polymorphisms in Porcine Ribosomal protein L27a (RPL27A) Gene with Meat-quality Traits

“…The ribosomal protein L27a (RPL27A) gene has recently been identified as a positional and functional candidate gene responsible for marbling in Japanese Black beef cattle. (Yamada et al 2009;Watanabe et al 2011). In pigs, the RPL27A gene is located in SSC 9 (http://asia.ensembl.org, ENSSSCT00000015919).…”