Differentially transcribed genes in skeletal muscle of lambs

The objective of this study was to compare gene transcription profiles in Longissimus dorsi muscle of the following four hair sheep genetic groups, Morada Nova (MO), Brazilian Somali (SO), Santa Inˆes (SI) and 1⁄2Dorper  1⁄2Morada Nova (F1). These groups all display different postnatal muscle growth. The transcriptomes of the skeletal muscle of the lambs (at 200 days of age) were profiled by using oligonucleotide microarrays and reverse transcription- quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). The microarray experiment identified 262 transcripts that were differentially expressed when transcription levels were compared between the different breeds. A total of 23 transcripts among which those involved in skeletal muscle development (MyoD1 and IGFBP4), lipogenesis and adipogenesis (C/EBP d , PPAR g and PGDS) were differentially expressed in at least in one comparison. Clustering analysis showed that there is greater similarity in gene expression between the MO and SI breeds and between F1 and SO genetic groups. The SO breed has the most distinct expression pattern. The RT-qPCR results confirmed the findings from the microarray study. A positive correlation was observed between the expression of MyoD1 and the cold carcass yield. The negative correlations between the weight and yield of cold carcass with the expression of C/EBP d mean that the selection for adipogenesis could lead to a lower carcass weight. The GLUT3 and PYGL gene transcripts were negatively correlated with fat thickness, but ATP5G1 was positively correlated with this trait. Interestingly, many genes negatively correlated with PUFA were positively correlated with cold carcass yield. In conclusion, the present work demonstrated that there are breed-specific expression patterns in Brazilian hair sheep genetic groups. The differences in gene expression among genetic groups were consistent with their phenotypic differences. The positive correlation of the MyoD1 expression with the cold carcass yield suggests that this gene is important for tissue growth in sheep. Thepositive correlation of the C/EBP d expression with PUFA provides an opportunity to select for lipid deposition in meat animals

Seleção genômica para características de carcaça em bovinos da raça Nelore

Economic relevant traits as carcass, measured after slaughter, are not included in the animal breeding program of Nelore breed due to the difficult and high cost to measure. With the advent of genomic selection, it is possible to select animals without the need of recording phenotypic performance of its own or from close relatives, and there is also the possibility of investigating genes or chromosome regions affecting the expression of traits using genome-wide association study (GWAS). The aim of this study was to compare different models on the predictive ability of genomic breeding values (GEBVs), and to perform a GWAS for the following traits: hot carcass weight, rib eye area, and backfat thickness, in order to contribute to the incorporation of genomic information into the genetic evaluation of beef cattle in Brazil. Genotypic and phenotypic information of 1,756 Nelore bulls were used in the analysis. Genotypes were generated based on a panel with 777.962 SNPs. The GEBVs were predicted using three models: Bayesian Ridge Regression (BRR), BayesC (BC) e Bayesian Lasso (BL), and two types of response variables: estimated breeding value and adjusted phenotypes for the fixed effects. GWAS was performed using the singlestep approach which combines all available phenotypic, pedigree and genomic information adjusting a polygenic-genomic model. In general, it was verified that heritability and response variable affected the genomic predictions, where the adjusted phenotype was the most appropriate response variable to perform SNPs estimates. It was also observed that the predictive abilities were similar among the methods (BRR, BC and BL). GWAS study detected potential genome regions that may be affecting the phenotypes. These regions can contribute to understand the genetic control of these traits and can be useful to include them into the genetic process for selecting the animals. The results showed that marker assited selection is ...Características economicamente importantes, como as características de carcaça, medidas post mortem, não vem sendo incluídas nos programas de melhoramento da raça Nelore devido, dentre outros fatores, aos altos custos e dificuldade de mensuração. Com a genômica, torna-se possível a seleção dos animais sem a necessidade de mensuração de seus próprios fenótipos e/ou de seus parentes, e tem-se, também, a possibilidade da realização da busca por genes ou regiões cromossômicas envolvidas com a expressão das características, por meio do estudo de associação genômica ampla (GWAS). Objetivou-se com o presente trabalho comparar diferentes modelos quanto à habilidade de predição de valores genéticos genômicos (GEBVs), e realizar um estudo de associação genômica ampla para as características: peso de carcaça quente, área de olho de lombo e espessura de gordura subcutânea, visando trazer subsídios para a incorporação da informação genômica nas avaliações genéticas de bovinos de corte no Brasil. Foram utilizados dados fenotípicos e genotípicos de 1.756 animais machos da raça Nelore. Os animais foram genotipados com um painel de alta densidade com 777.962 SNPs. Os GEBVs foram preditos utilizando três modelos: Regressão de cumeeira - (Bayesian Ridge Regression - BRR), BayesC (BC) e Lasso Bayesiano - (Bayesian Lasso - BL) e dois tipos de variáveis resposta: o valor genético tradicional e o fenótipo corrigido para os efeitos fixos. A implementação da GWAS foi realizada através da aplicação de um modelo poligênico-genômico, que considerou, simultaneamente, todas as informações disponíveis (fenótipos, pedigree e SNPs) por meio de um processo que combina a matriz de parentesco aditivo com a matriz de parentesco genômico. No geral, foi verificado que as predições genômicas sofreram influência da herdabilidade das características e do tipo de pseudo-fenótipo utilizado, sendo a..

Phenotypic relationship of female sexual precocity with production and reproduction traits in beef cattle using multivariate statistical techniques

Multivariate statistical techniques were used to characterise the differences between precocious and non-precocious Nellore females regarding the phenotypic expression of various reproductive and productive traits. Information of 13,105 females was used in a correspondence analysis to describe the relationship of heifer early pregnancy and the categorical variables (stayability and visual scores). Moreover, principal component and factor analyses were used to investigate the relationship between early pregnancy and the continuous variables. These statistical techniques allow synthesising the information of a large set of random and correlated traits in a reduced set of uncorrelated latent variables generated as linear combinations of the original dataset. In this study, principal component and factor analyses indicated that sexually precocious females present higher weight gain from weaning to yearling, backfat thickness, longevity, and cumulative productivity than non-precocious females. In the correspondence analysis, precocious females were associated with score 4, which is between the intermediate and the extremely high expression, of conformation, muscling, finishing precocity and size, and with value 1 (favourable) of stayability. All these findings indicate that the use of precocious females could benefit the overall performance of a herd since they present higher growth rate, better product quality and higher lifetime productivity than non-precocious cows.Highlights Multivariate statistical techniques were used to investigate the relationship pattern of complex traits in Nellore cattle. The anticipation of heifer reproductive life was favourably associated with cumulative productivity and longevity in beef cattle. Using precocious females could benefit all production phases of a herd

Genetic (co)variance components for ratio of lamb weight to ewe metabolic weight as an indicator of ewe efficiency

Data from a multibreed commercial flock located at Mid-West of Brazil, supported by Programa de Melhoramento Genético de Caprinos e Ovinos de Corte (GENECOC), were used to estimate genetic parameters of traits related to ewe productivity by Average Information Restricted Maximum Likelihood method applied to an animal model. The analyzed traits were litter weight at birth (LWB) and at weaning (LWW), ewe weight at weaning (EW) and ewe production efficiency, estimated by WEE=LWW/EW 0.75. The heritabilities were 0.26±0.05, 0.32±0.06, 0.37±0.03 and 0.10±0.02 for LWB, LWW, EW and WEE, respectively. Significant effects for direct heterosis were observed for LWW and EW. Recombination losses were important for EW and WEE. Genetic correlations of LWB with LWW, EW and WEE were 0.68, 0.37 and 0.15, respectively; of LWW with EW and WEE were 0.30 and 0.34, respectively; and between EW and WEE was -0.25. Even though it is a low heritability trait, WEE can be indicated as a selection criteria for improving the ewe productivity without increasing the mature weight of animals due to its genetic correlations with LWW and other traits. © 2011 Elsevier B.V

Genome-wide association study for stayability at different calvings in Nellore beef cattle

Abstract Backgrounding Stayability, which may be defined as the probability of a cow remaining in the herd until a reference age or at a specific number of calvings, is usually measured late in the animal’s life. Thus, if used as selection criteria, it will increase the generation interval and consequently might decrease the annual genetic gain. Measuring stayability at an earlier age could be a reasonable strategy to avoid this problem. In this sense, a better understanding of the genetic architecture of this trait at different ages and/or at different calvings is important. This study was conducted to identify possible regions with major effects on stayability measured considering different numbers of calvings in Nellore cattle as well as pathways that can be involved in its expression throughout the female’s productive life. Results The top 10 most important SNP windows explained, on average, 17.60% of the genetic additive variance for stayability, varying between 13.70% (at the eighth calving) and 21% (at the fifth calving). These SNP windows were located on 17 chromosomes (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 27, and 28), and they harbored a total of 176 annotated genes. The functional analyses of these genes, in general, indicate that the expression of stayability from the second to the sixth calving is mainly affected by genetic factors related to reproductive performance, and nervous and immune systems. At the seventh and eighth calvings, genes and pathways related to animal health, such as density bone and cancer, might be more relevant. Conclusion Our results indicate that part of the target genomic regions in selecting for stayability at earlier ages (from the 2th to the 6th calving) would be different than selecting for this trait at later ages (7th and 8th calvings). While the expression of stayability at earlier ages appeared to be more influenced by genetic factors linked to reproductive performance together with an overall health/immunity, at later ages genetic factors related to an overall animal health gain relevance. These results support that selecting for stayability at earlier ages (perhaps at the second calving) could be applied, having practical implications in breeding programs since it could drastically reduce the generation interval, accelerating the genetic progress

Whole-genome sequencing provides new insights into genetic mechanisms of tropical adaptation in Nellore (Bos primigenius indicus)

Abstract Most of the knowledge about genetic variants at the sequence level in cattle is for Bos primigenius taurus populations. Here, we presented a complete genomic characterization of 52 Nellore (Bos primigenius indicus) bulls, revealing specific zebu DNA variants with putative impact in tropical adaptation and productive traits. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion/deletion (INDELs) mutations were identified using the newest bovine reference genome ARS_UCD1.2, and variant functional consequences were predicted using the Ensembl VEP software. A total of 35,753,707 SNPs and 4,492,636 INDELs were detected and annotated to their functional effects. We identified 400 genes that comprised both, a SNP and an INDEL, of high functional impact on proteins (i.e. variants that cause protein truncation, loss of function or triggering nonsense-mediated decay). Among these, we highlight the following genes: BoLA, associated with cattle immune response to infections and reproduction aspects; HSPA8, DNAJC27, and DNAJC28, involved with thermoregulatory protective mechanisms in mammals; and many olfactory signaling pathway related genes that are important genetic factors in the evolution of mammalian species. All these functional aspects are directly related to cattle adaptability to tropical environments

Sustainable Intensification of Beef Production in the Tropics: The Role of Genetically Improving Sexual Precocity of Heifers

Increasing productivity through continued animal genetic improvement is a crucial part of implementing sustainable livestock intensification programs. In Zebu cattle, the lack of sexual precocity is one of the main obstacles to improving beef production efficiency. Puberty-related traits are complex, but large-scale data sets from different “omics” have provided information on specific genes and biological processes with major effects on the expression of such traits, which can greatly increase animal genetic evaluation. In addition, genetic parameter estimates and genomic predictions involving sexual precocity indicator traits and productive, reproductive, and feed-efficiency related traits highlighted the feasibility and importance of direct selection for anticipating heifer reproductive life. Indeed, the case study of selection for sexual precocity in Nellore breeding programs presented here show that, in 12 years of selection for female early precocity and improved management practices, the phenotypic means of age at first calving showed a strong decreasing trend, changing from nearly 34 to less than 28 months, with a genetic trend of almost −2 days/year. In this period, the percentage of early pregnancy in the herds changed from around 10% to more than 60%, showing that the genetic improvement of heifer’s sexual precocity allows optimizing the productive cycle by reducing the number of unproductive animals in the herd. It has a direct impact on sustainability by better use of resources. Genomic selection breeding programs accounting for genotype by environment interaction represent promising tools for accelerating genetic progress for sexual precocity in tropical beef cattle

Genomic analysis of stayability in Nellore cattle.

Stayability, which can be defined as the probability of a cow calving at a certain age when given the opportunity, is an important reproductive trait in beef cattle because it is directly related to herd profitability. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters and to identify possible genomic regions associated with the phenotypic expression of stayability in Nellore cows. The variance components were estimated by Bayesian inference using a threshold animal model that included the systematic effects of contemporary group and sexual precocity and the random effects of animal and residual. The SNP effects were estimated by the single-step genomic BLUP method using information of 2,838 animals (2,020 females and 930 sires) genotyped with the Illumina High-Density BeadChip Array (San Diego, CA, USA). The variance explained by windows formed by 200 consecutive SNPs was used to identify genomic regions of largest effect on the expression of stayability. The heritability was 0.11 ± 0.01 when A matrix (pedigree) was used and 0.14 ± 0.01 when H matrix (relationship matrix that combines pedigree information and SNP data) was used. A total of 147 candidate genes for stayability were identified on chromosomes 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 20 and on the X chromosome. New candidate regions for stayability were detected, most of them related to reproductive, immunological and central nervous system functions