Identifying Loci Associated With Bovine Corona Virus Infection and Bovine Respiratory Disease in Dairy and Feedlot Cattle

Abstract

Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is associated with respiratory and enteric infections in both dairy and beef cattle worldwide. It is also one of a complex of pathogens associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD), which affects millions of cattle annually. The objectives of this study were to identify loci and heritability estimates associated with BCoV infection and BRD in dairy calves and feedlot cattle. Dairy calves from California (n = 1,938) and New Mexico (n = 647) and feedlot cattle from Colorado (n = 915) and Washington (n = 934) were tested for the presence of BCoV when classified as BRD cases or controls following the McGuirk scoring system. Two comparisons associated with BCoV were investigated: (1) cattle positive for BCoV (BCoV+) were compared to cattle negative for BCoV (BCoV−) and (2) cattle positive for BCoV and affected with BRD (BCoV+BRD+) were compared to cattle negative for BCoV and BRD (BCoV−BRD−). The Illumina BovineHD BeadChip was used for genotyping, and genome-wide association analyses (GWAA) were performed using EMMAX (efficient mixed-model association eXpedited). The GWAA for BCoV+ identified 51 loci (p < 1 × 10−5; 24 feedlot, 16 dairy, 11 combined) associated with infection with BCoV. Three loci were associated with BCoV+ across populations. Heritability estimates for BCoV+ were 0.01 for dairy, 0.11 for feedlot cattle, and 0.03 for the combined population. For BCoV+BRD+, 80 loci (p < 1 × 10−5; 26 feedlot, 25 dairy, 29 combined) were associated including 14 loci across populations. Heritability estimates for BCoV+BRD+ were 0.003 for dairy, 0.44 for feedlot cattle, and 0.07 for the combined population. Several positional candidate genes associated with BCoV and BRD in this study have been associated with other coronaviruses and respiratory infections in humans and mice. These results suggest that selection may reduce susceptibility to BCoV infection and BRD in cattle.

One Health and Cattle Genetic Resources: Mining More than 500 Cattle Genomes to Identify Variants in Candidate Genes Potentially Affecting Coronavirus Infections

“…In addition, large and expensive experimental designs should be used to obtain meaningful information from a genetic point of view. A few studies, for example, were designed to dissect the cattle genome for the identification of QTL affecting CoV related diseases [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Despite the extensive efforts that have been carried out, limited results that could be useful in selection programs have been obtained.…”

Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Quantitative Trait Loci and Candidate Genes Associated with High Interferon-gamma Production in Holstein Cattle Naturally Infected with Mycobacterium Bovis

“…More specifically, overlapping between some of the identified QTLs and QTLs associated with 30 health traits was observed. The identified QTLs overlapped with 159 QTLs previously associated with bovine tuberculosis [29,49,50], 158 QTLs associated with somatic cell score [51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59], 105 QTLs associated with bovine respiratory disease susceptibility [60][61][62], and 14 QTLs associated with bovine paratuberculosis susceptibility [63][64][65][66][67][68]. QTLs enrichment analysis revealed the enrichment of 33 QTLs associated with exterior, meat and carcass, production, reproduction, and health (Supplementary Table S1).…”

Genetic susceptibility to acute viral bronchiolitis

“…SH3D19 encodes SH3 domain containing 19, and the gene was previously associated with traits including height and white blood cell counts in the GWAS Catalog 46 . Interestingly, the gene showed an association with bovine respiratory infections 47 , and suggestive associations with asthma and hospitalization for COVID-19 46 .…”