A major QTL at the LHCGR/FSHR locus for multiple birth in Holstein cattle

Widmer, Sarah; Seefried, Franz R.; von Rohr, Peter; Häfliger, Irene M.; Spengeler, Mirjam; Drögemüller, Cord (2021). A major QTL at the LHCGR/FSHR locus for multiple birth in Holstein cattle. Genetics selection evolution, 53(1) BioMed Central 10.1186/s12711-021-00650-1

[img]
Preview
Text
Widmer_et_al-2021-Genetics_Selection_Evolution.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY).

Download (1MB) | Preview
Official URL: https://rdcu.be/cnHBf

Background: Twin and multiple births are rare in cattle and have a negative impact on the performance and health of cows and calves. Therefore, selection against multiple birth would be desirable in dairy cattle breeds such as Holstein. We applied different methods to decipher the genetic architecture of this trait using de-regressed breeding values for maternal multiple birth of ~ 2500 Holstein individuals to perform genome-wide association analyses using ~ 600 K imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
Results: In the population studied, we found no significant genetic trend over time of the estimated breeding values for multiple birth, which indicates that this trait has not been selected for in the past. In addition to several suggestive non-significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) on different chromosomes, we identified a major QTL on chromosome 11 for maternal multiple birth that explains ~ 16% of the total genetic variance. Using a haplotype-based approach, this QTL was fine-mapped to a 70-kb window on chromosome 11 between 31.00 and 31.07 Mb that harbors two functional candidate genes (LHCGR and FSHR). Analysis of whole-genome sequence data by linkage-disequilibrium estimation revealed a regulatory variant in the 5ʹ-region of LHCGR as a possible candidate causal variant for the identified major QTL. Furthermore, the identified haplotype showed significant effects on stillbirth and days to first service.
Conclusions: QTL detection and subsequent identification of causal variants in livestock species remain challenging in spite of the availability of large-scale genotype and phenotype data. Here, we report for the first time a major QTL for multiple birth in Holstein cattle and provide evidence for a linked variant in the non-coding region of a functional candidate gene. This discovery, which is a first step towards the understanding of the genetic architecture of this polygenic trait, opens the path for future selection against this undesirable trait, and thus contributes to increased animal health and welfare.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH) > Institute of Genetics
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH)

Graduate School:

Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB)

UniBE Contributor:

Widmer, Sarah, Häfliger, Irene Monika, Drögemüller, Cord

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology)
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

0999-193X

Publisher:

BioMed Central

Language:

English

Submitter:

Cord Drögemüller

Date Deposited:

05 Jul 2021 14:27

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:51

Publisher DOI:

10.1186/s12711-021-00650-1

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/157327

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/157327

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback