L-selectin gene polymorphism and its association with clinical mastitis, somatic cell score, and milk production in Polish Holstein-Friesian cattle

Abstract

Bovine mastitis is a widespread disease of the mammary gland, highly contributing to the increase in veterinary costs in dairy industry. In the present study, the genetic polymorphism within bovine L-selectin gene was analysed and its impact on clinical mastitis occurrence, somatic cell score (SCS), and milk production traits in Polish Holstein-Friesian cows was examined. Polymorphism within L-selectin gene, molecule responsible for neutrophil attachment to endothelium, might have a potential role in immune response to bacterial infections and udder health. Two hundred and six Polish Holstein-Friesian cows were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms mutations within the coding sequence of L-selectin gene were identified (c.165G>A and c.567C>T). The effect of c.165G>A and c.567C>T mutations on SCS was highly significant (P = 0.0019 and P = 0.0003, respectively). Strong associations (P ≤ 0.0001) were also observed between L-selectin polymorphism and milk production traits (milk yield, milk fat percentage, and milk protein percentage). However, the polymorphism in the analysed gene had no influence on the resistance or susceptibility of cows to clinical mastitis (only the tendency toward significance, P = 0.06 for c.567C>T mutation was found). Potential exploitation of the information on the identified associations in genetic selection needs to confirm the obtained results in further investigations.

New Insights on Nucleotide Sequence Variants and mRNA Levels of Candidate Genes Assessing Resistance/Susceptibility to Mastitis in Holstein and Montbéliarde Dairy Cows

“…Monitoring the health of mastitic animals was performed using the candidate gene method [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. In contrast to earlier studies, this study investigated polymorphisms via SNP genetic markers to compare the prevalence of mastitis in two breeds of dairy cow (Holstein and Montbéliarde).…”

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, Gene Expression and Economic Evaluation of Parameters Associated with Mastitis Susceptibility in European Cattle Breeds

“…Interestingly, our results indicated that the polymorphisms identified are reported here for the first time in investigated genes when compared with matched GenBank reference sequence. Although, there is little information on SELL, ABCG2, SLC11A1, and FEZL genes polymorphisms and their association with mastitis susceptibility in dairy cattle, previous studies reported these association in one breed using RFLP and SSCP genetic markers with opposing results [25][26][27][28][29]. Unlike previous studies, this context explored polymorphisms via SNP genetic marker to compare mastitis incidence in two breeds (Holstein and Brown Swiss) of dairy cattle.…”

“…Dusza et al [27] studied SELL gene polymorphism and its association with clinical mastitis and milk production in Polish Holstein-Friesian cattle. Strong associations were observed between SELL gene polymorphism and milk production traits (milk yield, milk fat percentage, and milk protein percentage); however, the polymorphism in the analysed gene had no influence on the resistance or susceptibility of cows to clinical mastitis.…”

“…Our study is the first to detect immune and antioxidant mRNA levels in tolerant and susceptible Holstein and Brown Swiss dairy cows to mastitis using real-time PCR approach. Previous studies explored gene polymorphism using genetic markers such as RFLP and SSCP [25][26][27][28][29]; however, our study was designed to overcome the limitations of previous work by investigating polymorphism in studied genes using SNP genetic markers and gene expression. Consequently, SELL, ABCG2, SLC11A1, FEZL, SOD1, CAT, GPX1, and AhpC/TSA regulation mechanisms are well understood in the mastitis tolerant and affected Holstein and Brown Swiss dairy cows.…”

“…Although there is little information on SELL, ABCG2, SLC11A1, and FEZL gene polymorphisms and their association with mastitis susceptibility in dairy cattle, previous studies reported this association in one breed using RFLP and SSCP genetic markers with opposing results [25][26][27][28][29]. Based on the current knowledge, there were no previous studies revealing the association of SNPs and expression profile of immune and antioxidant markers in two breeds of dairy cows.…”