Bivariate GWAS reveals pleiotropic regions among feed efficiency and beef quality-related traits in Nelore cattle

Carlos Eduardo Buss; Juliana Afonso; Priscila S N de Oliveira; Juliana Petrini; Polyana Cristine Tizioto; Aline S M Cesar; Emanuele Cristina Gustani-Buss; Tainã Figueiredo Cardoso; Gregori A Rovadoski; Wellison Jarles da Silva Diniz; Andressa Oliveira de Lima; Marina Ibelli Pereira Rocha; Bruno Gabriel Nascimento Andrade; Jason B Wolf; Luiz Lehmann Coutinho; Gerson Barreto Mourão; Luciana Correia de Almeida Regitano

doi:10.1007/s00335-022-09969-6

Bivariate GWAS reveals pleiotropic regions among feed efficiency and beef quality-related traits in Nelore cattle

Mamm Genome. 2023 Mar;34(1):90-103. doi: 10.1007/s00335-022-09969-6. Epub 2022 Dec 4.

Authors

Carlos Eduardo Buss^{1

2}, Juliana Afonso³, Priscila S N de Oliveira¹, Juliana Petrini⁴, Polyana Cristine Tizioto⁵, Aline S M Cesar⁶, Emanuele Cristina Gustani-Buss^{2

7}, Tainã Figueiredo Cardoso³, Gregori A Rovadoski⁴, Wellison Jarles da Silva Diniz⁸, Andressa Oliveira de Lima⁹, Marina Ibelli Pereira Rocha¹, Bruno Gabriel Nascimento Andrade^{3

10}, Jason B Wolf¹¹, Luiz Lehmann Coutinho⁴, Gerson Barreto Mourão⁴, Luciana Correia de Almeida Regitano¹²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetic and Evolution, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil.
² Mindflow Genomics, Leuven, Flanders, Belgium.
³ Embrapa Southeast Cattle, Fazenda Canchim, Rodovia Washington Luiz, Km 234, S/N, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Animal Science, University of São Paulo/ESALQ, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁵ NGS Soluções Genômicas, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁶ Department of Agroindustry, Food and Nutrition, University of São Paulo/ESALQ, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁷ Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
⁸ Department of Animal Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
⁹ Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Genomics Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Computer Science, Munster Technological University/MTU, Cork, Ireland.
¹¹ Department of Biology & Biochemistry, Milner Centre for Evolution Bath, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
¹² Embrapa Southeast Cattle, Fazenda Canchim, Rodovia Washington Luiz, Km 234, S/N, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil. luciana.regitano@embrapa.br.

PMID: 36463529
DOI: 10.1007/s00335-022-09969-6

Abstract

Feed-efficient cattle selection is among the most leading solutions to reduce cost for beef cattle production. However, technical difficulties in measuring feed efficiency traits had limited the application in livestock. Here, we performed a Bivariate Genome-Wide Association Study (Bi-GWAS) and presented candidate biological mechanisms underlying the association between feed efficiency and meat quality traits in a half-sibling design with 353 Nelore steers derived from 34 unrelated sires. A total of 13 Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) were found explaining part of the phenotypic variations. An important transcription factor of adipogenesis in cattle, the TAL1 (rs133408775) gene located on BTA3 was associated with intramuscular fat and average daily gain (IMF-ADG), and a region located on BTA20, close to CD180 and MAST4 genes, both related to fat accumulation. We observed a low positive genetic correlation between IMF-ADG (r = 0.30 ± 0.0686), indicating that it may respond to selection in the same direction. Our findings contributed to clarifying the pleiotropic modulation of the complex traits, indicating new QTLs for bovine genetic improvement.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cattle
Gene Expression Regulation
Genome-Wide Association Study* / veterinary
Meat
Phenotype
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Quantitative Trait Loci*