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ARS Home » Plains Area » Miles City, Montana » Livestock and Range Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #347412
Title: Genome-wide association study for carcass traits in a composite beef cattle breed

Author
item Hay, El Hamidi
item Roberts, Andrew

Submitted to: Livestock Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2018
Publication Date: 5/2/2018
Citation: Hay, E.A., Roberts, A.J. 2018. Genome-wide association study for carcass traits in a composite beef cattle breed. Livestock Science. 213:35-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2018.04.018.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2018.04.018

Interpretive Summary: Improvement of carcass traits is of great importance to the beef industry. Discovering and understanding the genetic architecture of these traits is of paramount importance. In this study, different genome wide association approaches were implemented and compared for three ultrasound carcass traits: fat thickness (FAT), intramuscular fat (IMF) and ribeye area (REA) of a composite beef cattle breed. The results showed different SNP marker windows associated with carcass traits explaining a small percentage of the genetic variance. This study supported previous results from GWAS of carcass traits and revealed additional regions in the bovine genome associated with these economically important traits.

Technical Abstract: Improvement of carcass traits is highly emphasized in beef cattle production in order to meet consumer demands. Discovering and understanding genes and genetic variants that control these traits is of paramount importance. In this study, different genome wide association approaches (ssGWAS, Bayes A and Bayes B) were implemented and compared for three ultrasound carcass traits: fat thickness (FAT), intramuscular fat (IMF) and ribeye area (REA) of a composite beef cattle breed. The results showed different SNP marker windows associated with carcass traits explaining a small percentage of the genetic variance. The highest window explained 1.83% of genetic variance in FAT and was located on BTA14 in position 24Mb. Surveying candidate genes in the regions associated with these traits revealed genes such as LYPLA, and LYN genes which have been associated with feed intake and growth in beef cattle. This study supported previous results from GWAS of carcass traits and revealed additional regions in the bovine genome associated with these economically important traits. Comparing the top 5 SNP windows for each trait across the GWAS methods revealed that only a few of these windows overlap. Results of this study showed that genome wide association study is dependent on the type of statistical model adopted.