Genetic Markers Associated with Milk Production Traits in Dairy Cattle

Zhiyuan He,Shuai Liu,Xu Chen,Jingjun Wang,Tianyu Chen,Jianxin Xiao,Yulin Ma,Muhammad Kamal Shah,Zhijun Cao,Gibson Maswayi Alugongo,Muhammad Zahoor Khan

doi:10.3390/agriculture11101018

Zhiyuan He, Shuai Liu + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11101018

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Abstract

Increasing milk production is one of the key concerns in animal production. Traditional breeding has gotten limited achievement in the improvement of milk production because of its moderate heritability. Milk production traits are controlled by many genes. Thus, identifying candidate genes associated with milk production traits may provide information that can be used to enhance the accuracy of animal selection for moderately heritable traits like milk production. The genomic selection can enhance the accuracy and intensity of selection and shortening the generation interval. The genetic progress of economically important traits can be doubled with the accuracy of selection and shortening of generation interval. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have made possible the screening of several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes associated with milk production traits in dairy cattle. In addition, RNA-sequencing is another well-established tool used to identify genes associated with milk production in dairy cattle. Although it has been widely accepted that these three methods (GWAS, RNA-seq and DNA sequencing) are considered the first step in the screening of genes, however, the outcomes from GWAS, DNA-sequencing and RNA-seq still need further verification for the establishment of bonafide causal variants via genetic replication as well as functional validation. In the current review, we have highlighted genetic markers identified (2010-to date) for their associations with milk production traits in dairy cattle. The information regarding candidate genes associated with milk production traits provided in the current review could be helpful to select the potential genetic markers for the genetic improvement of milk production traits in dairy cattle.

Highlights

Milk production traits have fundamental roles in dairy development and related economy [1,2]
Exploring the genetic changes underlying preferred phenotypes is the target of today’s animal producers. It has been well-established that the production of milk can be enhanced through genetic marker-assisted selection [8,9]. Various approaches such as mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL), genome-wide association study (GWAS), RNA-sequencing, whole-genome sequencing and candidate gene analysis have been used to screen out the causal genes or their mutations associated with milk production traits [10,11,12,13,14]
The present review article included all the polymorphisms in genes reported through GWAS or functional validation that were significantly associated with milk production traits in dairy cattle

Summary

Introduction

Milk production traits have fundamental roles in dairy development and related economy [1,2]. Exploring the genetic changes underlying preferred phenotypes is the target of today’s animal producers. It has been well-established that the production of milk can be enhanced through genetic marker-assisted selection [8,9]. The intensity of selection can be enhanced because the breeders use genomic testing to identify a larger group of potentially superior animals. By enhancing the accuracy and intensity of selection and decreasing the generation interval, the rate of genetic progress for economically essential dairy traits can be almost doubled. Keeping in view the importance of genomic selection, the current review was designed to highlight the possible development on genetic markers associated with milk production traits in dairy cattle

Materials and Methods

Findings

Conclusions