Genome-Wide Association Study of Body Conformation Traits by Whole Genome Sequencing in Dazu Black Goats

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 5; p. 548
• Main Authors: Gu, Bowen, Sun, Ruifan, Fang, Xingqiang, Zhang, Jipan, Zhao, Zhongquan, Huang, Deli, Zhao, Yuanping, Zhao, Yongju
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 23.02.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Bioinformatics; Biological effects; body conformation traits; Body height; Body length; CCL19 protein; Chest; Circumferences; Conformation; Fibroblast growth factor receptor 9; Genes; Genetic diversity; Genetic markers; Genetic testing; Genetic variance; Genome-wide association studies; genome-wide association study; Genomes; Genomics; goat; Goats; Growth rate; Indigenous animals; Laboratories; Meat; Meat industry; Meat processing industry; Nucleotides; Ontology; Population; Quality control; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Whole genome sequencing; China; whole genome sequencing; body conformation traits; goat; single nucleotide polymorphism; genome-wide association study
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani12050548

Identifying associations between genetic markers and economic traits has practical benefits for the meat goat industry. To better understand the genomic regions and biological pathways contributing to body conformation traits of meat goats, a genome-wide association study was performed using Dazu black goats (DBGs), a Chinese indigenous goat breed. In particular, 150 DBGs were genotyped by whole-genome sequencing, and six body conformation traits, including body height (BH), body length (BL), cannon circumference (CC), chest depth (CD), chest width (CW), and heart girth (HG), were examined. In total, 53 potential SNPs were associated with these body conformation traits. A bioinformatics analysis was performed to evaluate the genes located close to the significant SNPs. Finally, 42 candidate genes (e.g., , , , , , , and ) were identified as components of the genetic architecture underlying body conformation traits. Our results provide useful biological information for the improvement of growth performance and have practical applications for genomic selection in goats.