Polymorphisms in twelve candidate genes are associated with growth, muscle lipid profile and meat quality traits in eleven European cattle breeds

Abstract

Current customers' demands focus on the nutritional and sensory quality of cattle meat. Candidate gene approach allows identification of genetic polymorphisms that have a measurable effect on traits of interest. The aim of this work is to identify new molecular markers for beef production through an association study using 27 candidate genes and 314 purebred bulls from 11 European cattle breeds. Twelve genes were found associated with different lipid and meat quality traits, and among these stand out the considerable effect of CAST on fatness score, CGGBP1 on growth traits, HSPB1 on the percentage of lauric acid (12:0) and phospholipid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA 22:6 n - 3), RORA on the ratio of light absorption (K) to light scattering (S) (K/S), and TNFA on lightness (L*). Most of these traits are related to post-mortem muscle biochemical changes, which are key factors controlling meat quality and consumers' acceptance. Also, the variations produced on muscle fatty acid profiles, such as those of AANAT, CRH, CSN3, HSPB1, and TNFA, give insights into the genetic networks controlling these complex traits and the possibility of future improvement of meat nutritional quality.

An interpretive review of selective sweep studies in Bos taurus cattle populations: identification of unique and shared selection signals across breeds

“…Subsequently, a systematic search for functional candidate genes was conducted by searching within CSSs for genes from four lists of genes related to phenotypes for which cattle breeds have been subjected to strong positive selection (a total of 1255 genes). These lists comprised: (i) the database of 449 genes (considering only unique genes) related to milk production and mastitis provided by Ogorevc et al ( 2009 ); (ii) a list of 519 candidate genes for meat production and meat quality derived from the EU funded GemQual project (QLK5 – CT2000-0147; Williams et al, 2009 ; Sevane et al, 2013 , 2014 ); (iii) a list of 176 genes related to coat color in cattle and other mammals ( http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/colors.html ; Olson, 1999 ; Montoliu et al, 2014 ), and (iv) a list of 111 genes associated with stature and body size in humans and cattle (Pryce et al, 2011 ; Guo et al, 2012 ; Kemper et al, 2012 ) (See Supplementary Table S3 in Supplementary Material for a complete list of the candidate genes associated with the four phenotype groups). Note that some of the genes appear in more than one of the candidate gene lists (e.g., PPARGC1A, MC1R ).…”

Association study between copy number variation and beef fatty acid profile of Nellore cattle

“…Due to the growing demand by consumers for protein sources with a health lipid profile, livestock dietary manipulation (Faucitano et al 2008) and genetic strategies (Liu et al 2010;Aboujaoude et al 2016;Berton et al 2016) have been applied. In genetics, several variants, i.e., SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism), have been employed to identify genetic markers related to expression of FA profile in beef cattle meat (Ishii et al 2013;Cesar et al 2014;Sevane et al 2014;Lemos et al 2016). Additionally, copy number variations (CNVs) can also affect gene expression and, consequently, phenotypes by changes in gene structure and dosage (Zhang e t al.…”

Genome-wide association between single nucleotide polymorphisms with beef fatty acid profile in Nellore cattle using the single step procedure

“…Strategies such as diet [ 11 ] and gene manipulation [ 12 ] have been used to satisfy the growing consumer demand for protein sources with healthier lipid profile. Thus, regions associated with the expression of beef fatty acid profile have been identified aiming to locate key genes in the genome [ 13 – 15 ] that contribute to these features. This genomic tool will assist the use of information that is beneficial to human health.…”