Genome-wide association studies for milk production traits in two autochthonous Aosta cattle breeds

• Published in: Animal (Cambridge, England) Vol. 18; no. 10; p. 101322
• Main Authors: Bernini, F., Mancin, E., Sartori, C., Mantovani, R., Vevey, M., Blanchet, V., Bagnato, A., Strillacci, M.G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 01.10.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: Cattle; Genomics; Local breeds; Productive traits; Quantitative Traits Loci; Productive traits; Cattle; Genomics; Local breeds; Quantitative Traits Loci
• ISSN: 1751-7311; 1751-732X; 1751-732X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2024.101322

•This is the first genome-wide association study for milk traits in the Aosta breeds.•Deregressed proofs and breeding values share loci for fat and protein content.•Production traits of Aosta cattle share common loci with other cattle breeds.•Most of the genes identified were previously associated with the studied traits.•Genes on chromosome 14, not in linkage with DGAT1, may have regulatory role. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are used to identify quantitative trait loci for phenotypic traits of interest. The use of multilocus mixed models allows to correct for population stratification and account for long-range linkage disequilibrium. In this study, GWASs were conducted to identify the genetic bases of milk production (milk yield, protein and fat composition, and yield) in two autochthonous dual-purpose cattle breeds from the Aosta Valley. Using either the breeding values or the deregressed proofs, common significative single nucleotide polymorphisms have been identified for milk yield, protein percentage, and fat percentage. Two major quantitative trait loci regions have been identified on the chromosomes 5 and 14 for the fat percentage, harbouring the MGST1, CYHR1, VPS28, and CPSF1 genes. For the protein percentage, a candidate region has been identified on BTA 6; in this region, the CSN1S1, CSN2, HSTN, CSN3, and RUFY3 genes are annotated. Most of the identified genes have already been associated with milk composition in other studies on cosmopolitan and local cattle. These results show that the genes involved in milk composition quantitative traits in the Aosta cattle are common also in other cattle breeds and they can be further investigated with the use of whole genome sequencing data.