Functional Analysis of Haplotypes in Bovine PSAP Gene and Their Relationship with Beef Cattle Production Traits.

Haidong Zhao,Shuhui Wang,Xiuzhu Sun,Pingbo Chen,Mingli Wu,Xiaohua Yi,Xiaoqin Tang

doi:10.3390/ani11010049

Haidong Zhao, Shuhui Wang + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010049

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Abstract

Simple SummaryWith the rapid development of information technology and molecular biotechnology, animal molecular breeding technology is playing an increasingly important role in beef cattle breeding. Prosaposin (PSAP) is involved in regulating the growth and development of animals, and it is reported that PSAP is an important marker-assisted selection (MAS) in cattle herd. The purpose of this study was to explore the novel variants in 3’ UTR of cattle PSAP and evaluate their effects on the morphological traits of four Chinese cattle breeds. In this study, 13 variants were identified in the PSAP 3’ UTR from 501 individuals belonging to four cattle breeds. In Nanyang cattle, the distribution of haplotypes was different from the other three breeds. Two groups of haplotypes had association with morphological traits by changing the secondary structures of PSAP 3’ UTR rather than the miR-184 target sites. This study not only expands the genetic variation spectrum of cattle PSAP but also contributes to MAS genetics and breeding of Chinese cattle breeds.The purpose of this study was to explore functional variants in the prosaposin (PSAP) three prime untranslated region (3’ UTR) and clarify the relationship between the variants and morphological traits. Through Sanger sequencing, 13 variations were identified in bovine PSAP in four Chinese cattle breeds, with six of them being loci in 3’ UTR. In particular, Nanyang (NY) cattle had a special genotype and haplotype distribution compared to the other three breeds. NY cattle with ACATG and GCGTG haplotypes had higher morphological traits than GTACA and GTACG haplotypes. The results of dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that ACATG and GCGTG haplotypes affected the morphological traits of NY cattle by altering the secondary structure of PSAP 3’ UTR rather than the miR-184 target sites. The findings of this study could be an evidence of a complex and varying mechanism between variants and animal morphological traits and could be used to complement candidate genes for molecular breeding.

Highlights

Introduction in published maps and institutionalWith continuous economic development and growth of formalized cultivation, beef cattle breeding is in urgent need of strengthening
Through DNA sequencing, 13 variations were found in a 167 bp DNA fragment in bovine PSAP 3’ UTR, including 12 singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci and one deletion locus
Through a mRNA secondary structure prediction of four haplotypes by RNAfold, we found that the free energy of the ACATG and GCGTG group was higher than that of the GTACA and GTACG group (Figure 6)

Summary

Introduction

Introduction in published maps and institutionalWith continuous economic development and growth of formalized cultivation, beef cattle breeding is in urgent need of strengthening. Traditional breeding methods are slow to produce results, making it difficult to meet demand. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have mapped thousands of genetic variants associated with animal development, which is an unprecedented high-resolution genetic characterization of animal breeding [3,4,5,6]. Growing evidence suggests that successful livestock breeding requires deep understanding of the regulatory mechanism between the genotype and phenotype relationship [7,8,9,10]. The location of these variants can result in phenotype differences, including the level of DNA affiliations

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