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Wragg D, Cook EAJ, Latré de Laté P, Sitt T, Hemmink JD, Chepkwony MC, Njeru R, Poole EJ, Powell J, Paxton EA, Callaby R, Talenti A, Miyunga AA, Ndambuki G, Mwaura S, Auty H, Matika O, Hassan M, Marshall K, Connelley T, Morrison LJ, Bronsvoort BMD, Morrison WI, Toye PG, Prendergast JGD. A locus conferring tolerance to Theileria infection in African cattle. PLoS Genet 2022; 18:e1010099. [PMID: 35446841 PMCID: PMC9022807 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
East Coast fever, a tick-borne cattle disease caused by the Theileria parva parasite, is among the biggest natural killers of cattle in East Africa, leading to over 1 million deaths annually. Here we report on the genetic analysis of a cohort of Bos indicus (Boran) cattle demonstrating heritable tolerance to infection with T. parva (h2 = 0.65, s.e. 0.57). Through a linkage analysis we identify a 6 Mb genomic region on bovine chromosome 15 that is significantly associated with survival outcome following T. parva exposure. Testing this locus in an independent cohort of animals replicates this association with survival following T. parva infection. A stop gained variant in a paralogue of the FAF1 gene in this region was found to be highly associated with survival across both related and unrelated animals, with only one of the 20 homozygote carriers (T/T) of this change succumbing to the disease in contrast to 44 out of 97 animals homozygote for the reference allele (C/C). Consequently, we present a genetic locus linked to tolerance of one of Africa’s most important cattle diseases, raising the promise of marker-assisted selection for cattle that are less susceptible to infection by T. parva. More than a million cattle die of East Coast fever in Africa each year, the impact of which disproportionately falls onto low-income, smallholder farmers. The lack of a widely accessible vaccine, heavy reliance on chemicals to control the tick vector and inadequate drug treatments means that new approaches for controlling the disease are urgently required. Through a genetic study of an extended pedigree of Boran cattle that are more than three times less likely to succumb to the disease than matched controls, we identify a region on chromosome 15 of the cattle genome associated with a high level of tolerance to the disease. We show that a nonsense variant in a predicted paralogue of FAS-associated factor 1 (FAF1) in this region is also associated with survival in an independent cohort, and is linked to rates of cell expansion during infection. This genetic variant can therefore support marker-assisted selection, allowing farmers to breed tolerant cattle and offers a route to introduce this beneficial DNA to non-native breeds, enabling reduced disease incidence and increased productivity, which would be of benefit to millions of rural smallholder farmers across Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Wragg
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth A. J. Cook
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Perle Latré de Laté
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | - Johanneke D. Hemmink
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | - Regina Njeru
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | - Jessica Powell
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Edith A. Paxton
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Rebecca Callaby
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Epidemiology, Economics and Risk Assessment (EEA) Group, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Andrea Talenti
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Antoinette A. Miyunga
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Gideon Ndambuki
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | - Harriet Auty
- Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health & Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Oswald Matika
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Musa Hassan
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Karen Marshall
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Timothy Connelley
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Liam J. Morrison
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - B. Mark deC. Bronsvoort
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - W. Ivan Morrison
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Philip G. Toye
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- ILRI Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
- * E-mail: (PGT); (JGDP)
| | - James G. D. Prendergast
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (PGT); (JGDP)
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Dórea FC, Vergne T, Brennan M, van Schaik G, Barrett D, Carmo LP, Robinson PA, Brodbelt DC, McIntyre KM. SVEPM 2020 - Resilience and community support in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine Annual Conference, extraordinarily held online. Prev Vet Med 2021; 191:105368. [PMID: 33933917 PMCID: PMC8080506 DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fernanda C Dórea
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; Department of Disease Control and Epidemiology, National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, SE 75 189, Sweden.
| | - Timothée Vergne
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; UMR ENVT-INRAE 1225, National Veterinary School of Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Marnie Brennan
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, UK
| | - Gerdien van Schaik
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; Royal GD, Deventer, The Netherlands; Department of Population Health Sciences, Unit Farm Animal Health, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Damien Barrett
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; One Health Scientific Support Team, Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Luís Pedro Carmo
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; Veterinary Public Health Institute, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Switzerland
| | - Philip A Robinson
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; Department of Veterinary Health and Animal Sciences, Harper Adams University, Newport, Shropshire, United Kingdom
| | - Dave C Brodbelt
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK
| | - K Marie McIntyre
- The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UK; Department of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK
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