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Ayyat MS, El-Monem UMA, Moustafa MMA, Al-Sagheer AA, Mahran MD, El-Attrouny MM. Genetic assessment of litter size, body weight, carcass traits and gene expression profiles in exotic and indigenous rabbit breeds: a study on New Zealand White, Californian, and Gabali rabbits in Egypt. Trop Anim Health Prod 2024; 56:244. [PMID: 39172291 PMCID: PMC11341605 DOI: 10.1007/s11250-024-04082-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 07/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024]
Abstract
Rabbits are essential for commercial meat production due to their efficient growth and productivity, breeds like New Zealand White (NZW), Californian (CAL), and Gabali (GAB) rabbits offer unique genetic traits in litter, growth, and carcass traits. This study aimed to evaluate heritability (h2), genetic and phenotypic correlations (rg and rp) for litter size, body weight and carcass traits across California (CAL), New Zealand white (NZW) and Gabali (GA) rabbits. Along with exploring gene expression profiles of TBC1D1, NPY, AGRP, POMC, Leptin, GH, GHR, IGF-1, CAA, GPR, ACC, CPT1, FAS, and CART in the brain, liver, and meat tissues of different rabbit breeds. The breed genotype had a significant impact on litter size (LS), litter weight (LW), body weight at 12 weeks (BW12), and daily weight gain (DWG) traits. NZW rabbits displayed superior performance in terms of litter size and litter weight, while CAL rabbits recorded the highest values for BW12 and DWG. Heritability estimates (h2) were generally low for litter size (ranging from 0.05 to 0.12) and medium for body weight (ranging from 0.16 to 0.31). Both genetic (rg) and phenotypic (rp) correlations for litter size were positive and moderate (ranging from 0.08 to 0.48), while correlations for body weight ranged from 0.21 to 0.58. Additionally, CAL rabbits exhibited higher carcass traits compared to NZW and GA rabbits. In terms of breed-specific gene expression patterns, New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits displayed the highest expression levels of key genes related to energy metabolism (TBC1D1), appetite regulation (NPY, AGRP, POMC), nutrient transport (CAA), and G protein-coupled receptors (GPR) in both brain and liver tissues. Californian (CAL) rabbits exhibited superior gene expression of the ACC gene in brain tissue and GH, GHR, and IGF-1 genes in brain and meat tissues. Gabali (GAB) rabbits demonstrated the highest expression levels of TBC1D1, NPY, AGRP, GPR, and ACC genes in meat tissues. These breed-specific gene expression differences, combined with genetic evaluation efforts, have the potential to enhance reproductive and productive performance in rabbits, offering valuable insights for rabbit breeding programs and genetic selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed S Ayyat
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt.
| | - Usama M Abd El-Monem
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt
| | - Mahmoud M A Moustafa
- Department of Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Moshtohor, Toukh, 13736, Egypt
| | - Adham A Al-Sagheer
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt
| | - Mohamed D Mahran
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt
| | - Mahmoud M El-Attrouny
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Moshtohor, Toukh, 13736, Egypt
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Bovo S, Ribani A, Schiavo G, Taurisano V, Bertolini F, Fornasini D, Frabetti A, Fontanesi L. Genome-wide association studies for diarrhoea outcomes identified genomic regions affecting resistance to a severe enteropathy in suckling rabbits. J Anim Breed Genet 2024; 141:328-342. [PMID: 38152994 DOI: 10.1111/jbg.12844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/29/2023]
Abstract
Selection and breeding strategies to improve resistance to enteropathies are essential to reaching the sustainability of the rabbit production systems. However, disease heterogeneity (having only as major visible symptom diarrhoea) and low disease heritability are two barriers for the implementation of these strategies. Diarrhoea condition can affect rabbits at different life stages, starting from the suckling period, with large negative economic impacts. In this study, from a commercial population of suckling rabbits (derived from 133 litters) that experienced an outbreak of enteropathy, we first selected a few animals that died with severe symptoms of diarrhoea and characterized their microbiota, using 16S rRNA gene sequencing data. Clostridium genus was consistently present in all affected specimens. In addition, with the aim to identify genetic markers in the rabbit genome that could be used as selection tools, we performed genome-wide association studies for symptoms of diarrhoea in the same commercial rabbit population. These studies were also complemented with FST analyses between the same groups of rabbits. A total of 332 suckling rabbits (151 with severe symptoms of diarrhoea, 42 with mild symptoms and 129 without any symptoms till the weaning period), derived from 45 different litters (a subset of the 133 litters) were genotyped with the Affymetrix Axiom OrcunSNP Array. In both genomic approaches, rabbits within litters were paired to constitute two groups (susceptible and resistant, including the mildly affected in one or the other group) and run case and control genome-wide association analyses. Genomic heritability estimated in the designed experimental structure integrated in a commercial breeding scheme was 0.19-0.21 (s.e. 0.09-0.10). A total of eight genomic regions on rabbit chromosome 2 (OCU2), OCU3, OCU7, OCU12, OCU13, OCU16 and in an unassembled scaffold had significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and/or markers that trespassed the FST percentile distribution. Among these regions, three main peaks of SNPs were identified on OCU12, OCU13 and OCU16. The QTL region on OCU13 encompasses several genes that encode members of a family of immunoglobulin Fc receptors (FCER1G, FCRLA, FCRLB and FCGR2A) involved in the immune innate system, which might be important candidate genes for this pathogenic condition. The results obtained in this study demonstrated that resistance to an enteropathy occurring in suckling rabbits is in part genetically determined and can be dissected at the genomic level, providing DNA markers that could be used in breeding programmes to increase resistance to enteropathies in meat rabbits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuele Bovo
- Animal and Food Genomics Group, Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Anisa Ribani
- Animal and Food Genomics Group, Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giuseppina Schiavo
- Animal and Food Genomics Group, Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Valeria Taurisano
- Animal and Food Genomics Group, Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Francesca Bertolini
- Animal and Food Genomics Group, Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Daniela Fornasini
- Gruppo Martini S.p.A., Centro Genetica Conigli (Rabbit Genetic Center), Longiano, Italy
| | - Andrea Frabetti
- Gruppo Martini S.p.A., Centro Genetica Conigli (Rabbit Genetic Center), Longiano, Italy
| | - Luca Fontanesi
- Animal and Food Genomics Group, Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Helal M, Sameh J, Gharib S, Merghany RM, Bozhilova-Sakova M, Ragab M. Candidate genes associated with reproductive traits in rabbits. Trop Anim Health Prod 2024; 56:94. [PMID: 38441694 PMCID: PMC10914644 DOI: 10.1007/s11250-024-03938-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Abstract
In the era of scientific advances and genetic progress, opportunities in the livestock sector are constantly growing. The application of molecular-based methods and approaches in farm animal breeding would accelerate and improve the expected results. The current work aims to comprehensively review the most important causative mutations in candidate genes that affect prolificacy traits in rabbits. Rabbits are a source of excellent-tasting meat that is high in protein and low in fat. Their early maturity and intensive growth are highly valued all over the world. However, improving reproductive traits and prolificacy in rabbits could be very tricky with traditional selection. Therefore, traditional breeding programs need new methods based on contemporary discoveries in molecular biology and genetics because of the complexity of the selection process. The study and implementation of genetic markers related to production in rabbits will help to create populations with specific productive traits that will produce the desired results in an extremely short time. Many studies worldwide showed an association between different genes and productive traits in rabbits. The study of these polymorphisms and their effects could be useful for molecular-oriented breeding, particularly marker-assisted selection programs in rabbit breeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mostafa Helal
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt.
| | - Jana Sameh
- Biotechnology Program, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt
| | - Sama Gharib
- Biotechnology Program, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt
| | - Rana M Merghany
- Department of Pharmacognosy, National Research Centre, Giza, 12622, Egypt
| | | | - Mohamed Ragab
- Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt
- Animal Breeding and Genetics Department, National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA), Madrid, 28040, Spain
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Ballan M, Schiavo G, Bovo S, Schiavitto M, Negrini R, Frabetti A, Fornasini D, Fontanesi L. Comparative analysis of genomic inbreeding parameters and runs of homozygosity islands in several fancy and meat rabbit breeds. Anim Genet 2022; 53:849-862. [PMID: 36073189 PMCID: PMC9826494 DOI: 10.1111/age.13264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Revised: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are defined as long stretches of DNA homozygous at each polymorphic position. The proportion of genome covered by ROH and their length are indicators of the level and origin of inbreeding. In this study, we analysed SNP chip datasets (obtained using the Axiom OrcunSNP Array) of a total of 702 rabbits from 12 fancy breeds and four meat breeds to identify ROH with different approaches and calculate several genomic inbreeding parameters. The highest average number of ROH per animal was detected in Belgian Hare (~150) and the lowest in Italian Silver (~106). The average length of ROH ranged from 4.001 ± 0.556 Mb in Italian White to 6.268 ± 1.355 Mb in Ermine. The same two breeds had the lowest (427.9 ± 86.4 Mb, Italian White) and the highest (921.3 ± 179.8 Mb, Ermine) average values of the sum of all ROH segments. More fancy breeds had a higher level of genomic inbreeding (as defined by ROH) than meat breeds. Several ROH islands contain genes involved in body size, body length, pigmentation processes, carcass traits, growth, and reproduction traits (e.g.: AOX1, GPX5, IFRD1, ITGB8, NELL1, NR3C1, OCA2, TRIB1, TRIB2). Genomic inbreeding parameters can be useful to overcome the lack of information in the management of rabbit genetic resources. ROH provided information to understand, to some extent, the genetic history of rabbit breeds and to identify signatures of selection in the rabbit genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad Ballan
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food SciencesUniversity of BolognaBolognaItaly
| | - Giuseppina Schiavo
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food SciencesUniversity of BolognaBolognaItaly
| | - Samuele Bovo
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food SciencesUniversity of BolognaBolognaItaly
| | - Michele Schiavitto
- Associazione Nazionale Coniglicoltori Italiani (ANCI), Contrada Giancola SncVolturara AppulaItaly
| | | | | | | | - Luca Fontanesi
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food SciencesUniversity of BolognaBolognaItaly
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Liao Y, Wang Z, Glória LS, Zhang K, Zhang C, Yang R, Luo X, Jia X, Lai SJ, Chen SY. Genome-Wide Association Studies for Growth Curves in Meat Rabbits Through the Single-Step Nonlinear Mixed Model. Front Genet 2021; 12:750939. [PMID: 34691158 PMCID: PMC8531506 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.750939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Growth is a complex trait with moderate to high heritability in livestock and must be described by the longitudinal data measured over multiple time points. Therefore, the used phenotype in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of growth traits could be either the measures at the preselected time point or the fitted parameters of whole growth trajectory. A promising alternative approach was recently proposed that combined the fitting of growth curves and estimation of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) effects into single-step nonlinear mixed model (NMM). In this study, we collected the body weights at 35, 42, 49, 56, 63, 70, and 84 days of age for 401 animals in a crossbred population of meat rabbits and compared five fitting models of growth curves (Logistic, Gompertz, Brody, Von Bertalanffy, and Richards). The logistic model was preferably selected and subjected to GWAS using the approach of single-step NMM, which was based on 87,704 genome-wide SNPs. A total of 45 significant SNPs distributed on five chromosomes were found to simultaneously affect the two growth parameters of mature weight (A) and maturity rate (K). However, no SNP was found to be independently associated with either A or K. Seven positional genes, including KCNIP4, GBA3, PPARGC1A, LDB2, SHISA3, GNA13, and FGF10, were suggested to be candidates affecting growth performances in meat rabbits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of GWAS based on single-step NMM for longitudinal traits in rabbits, which also revealed the genetic architecture of growth traits that are helpful in implementing genome selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yonglan Liao
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Zhicheng Wang
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Leonardo S Glória
- Laboratory of Animal Science, State University of Northern of Rio de Janeiro, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil
| | - Kai Zhang
- Sichuan Academy of Grassland Sciences, Chengdu, China
| | - Cuixia Zhang
- Animal Breeding and Genetics Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Animal Science Academy, Chengdu, China
| | - Rui Yang
- Animal Breeding and Genetics Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Animal Science Academy, Chengdu, China
| | - Xinmao Luo
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xianbo Jia
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Song-Jia Lai
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shi-Yi Chen
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
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Delpuech E, Aliakbari A, Labrune Y, Fève K, Billon Y, Gilbert H, Riquet J. Identification of genomic regions affecting production traits in pigs divergently selected for feed efficiency. Genet Sel Evol 2021; 53:49. [PMID: 34126920 PMCID: PMC8201702 DOI: 10.1186/s12711-021-00642-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Feed efficiency is a major driver of the sustainability of pig production systems. Understanding the biological mechanisms that underlie these agronomic traits is an important issue for environment questions and farms' economy. This study aimed at identifying genomic regions that affect residual feed intake (RFI) and other production traits in two pig lines divergently selected for RFI during nine generations (LRFI, low RFI; HRFI, high RFI). RESULTS We built a whole dataset of 570,447 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 2426 pigs with records for 24 production traits after both imputation and prediction of genotypes using pedigree information. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were performed including both lines (global-GWAS) or each line independently (LRFI-GWAS and HRFI-GWAS). Forty-five chromosomal regions were detected in the global-GWAS, whereas 28 and 42 regions were detected in the HRFI-GWAS and LRFI-GWAS, respectively. Among these 45 regions, only 13 were shared between at least two analyses, and only one was common between the three GWAS but it affects different traits. Among the five quantitative trait loci (QTL) detected for RFI, two were close to QTL for meat quality traits and two pinpointed novel genomic regions that harbor candidate genes involved in cell proliferation and differentiation processes of gastrointestinal tissues or in lipid metabolism-related signaling pathways. In most cases, different QTL regions were detected between the three designs, which suggests a strong impact of the dataset structure on the detection power and could be due to the changes in allelic frequencies during the establishment of lines. CONCLUSIONS In addition to efficiently detecting known and new QTL regions for feed efficiency, the combination of GWAS carried out per line or simultaneously using all individuals highlighted chromosomal regions that affect production traits and presented significant changes in allelic frequencies across generations. Further analyses are needed to estimate whether these regions correspond to traces of selection or result from genetic drift.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilie Delpuech
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Amir Aliakbari
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Yann Labrune
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Katia Fève
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | | | - Hélène Gilbert
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Juliette Riquet
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France.
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Ateya AI, Hendam BM, Radwan HA, Abo Elfadl EA, Al-Sharif MM. Using Linear Discriminant Analysis to Characterize Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Expression Profile Changes in Genes of Three Breeds of Rabbit ( Oryctolagus cuniculus). Comp Med 2021; 71:222-234. [PMID: 34034856 DOI: 10.30802/aalas-cm-20-000103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to investigate polymorphisms and changes in expression patterns of the genes FGF5, PGAM2, TLR2 and IL10 in V-line, Baladi Black and Baladi Red rabbits. Blood samples were collected from 180 healthy rabbits (n = 60 for each breed) for DNA extraction and DNA sequencing. At 3 mo of age, 20 randomly selected females from each breed were euthanized for gene expression quantification in muscle and spleen samples. PCR-DNA sequencing revealed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among the 3 breeds that provided a monomorphic pattern for 3 of the 4 genes analyzed. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was used to classify the SNPs of these genes in the 3 breeds. The overall percentage of correctly classified cases for the model was 75%, with percentages of 100% for FGF5, 63% for IL10, and 100% for TLR2. Breed was a significant predictor for gene classification with estimation (1.00). Expression profiles of the genes were higher in V-line as compared with Baladi Black or Baladi Red. The LDA discriminated the 3 breeds using results of the gene expression profile as predictors for classification. Overall, 73% of the cases were correctly classified by gene expression. The identified SNPs, along with changes in mRNA levels of FGF5, PGAM2, TLR2, and IL10, could provide a biomarker for efficient characterization of rabbit breeds and could thus help develop marker assisted selection for growth and immune traits in rabbits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmed I Ateya
- Department of Husbandry and Development of Animal Wealth, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Gomhoria St., Mansoura, Mansoura, Egypt;,
| | - Basma M Hendam
- Department of Husbandry and Development of Animal Wealth, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Gomhoria St., Mansoura, Mansoura, Egypt
| | - Hend A Radwan
- Department of Husbandry and Development of Animal Wealth, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Gomhoria St., Mansoura, Mansoura, Egypt
| | - Eman A Abo Elfadl
- Department of Husbandry and Development of Animal Wealth, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Gomhoria St., Mansoura, Mansoura, Egypt
| | - Mona M Al-Sharif
- Department of Biology, College of Science, Jeddah University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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Bovo S, Schiavo G, Utzeri VJ, Ribani A, Schiavitto M, Buttazzoni L, Negrini R, Fontanesi L. A genome-wide association study for the number of teats in European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) identifies several candidate genes affecting this trait. Anim Genet 2021; 52:237-243. [PMID: 33428230 DOI: 10.1111/age.13036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
In the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a polytocous livestock species, the number of teats indirectly impacts the doe reproduction efficiency and, in turn, the sustainable production of rabbit meat. In this study, we carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for the total number of teats in 247 Italian White does included in the Italian White rabbit breed selection program, by applying a selective genotyping approach. Does had either 8 (n = 121) or 10 teats (n = 126). All rabbits were genotyped with the Affymetrix Axiom OrcunSNP Array. Genomic data from the two extreme groups of rabbits were also analysed with the single-marker fixation index statistic and combined with the GWAS results. The GWAS identified 50 significant SNPs and the fixation index analysis identified a total of 20 SNPs that trespassed the 99.98th percentile threshold, 19 of which confirmed the GWAS results. The most significant SNP (P = 4.31 × 10-11 ) was located on OCU1, close to the NUDT2 gene, a breast carcinoma cells proliferation promoter. Another significant SNP identified as candidate gene NR6A1, which is well known to play an important role in affecting the correlated number of vertebrae in pigs. Other significant markers were close to candidate genes involved in determining body length in mice. Markers associated with increased number of teats could be included in selection programmes to speed up the improvement for this trait in rabbit lines that need to increase maternal performances.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Bovo
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, Bologna, 40127, Italy
| | - G Schiavo
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, Bologna, 40127, Italy
| | - V J Utzeri
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, Bologna, 40127, Italy
| | - A Ribani
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, Bologna, 40127, Italy
| | - M Schiavitto
- Associazione Nazionale Coniglicoltori Italiani (ANCI), Contrada Giancola snc, Volturara Appula, Foggia, 71030, Italy
| | - L Buttazzoni
- Research Centre for Animal Production and Aquaculture, Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria (CREA), Via Salaria 31, Monterotondo, Rome, 00015, Italy
| | - R Negrini
- Associazione Italiana Allevatori, Via G. Tomassetti 9, Rome, 00161, Italy
| | - L Fontanesi
- Division of Animal Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, Bologna, 40127, Italy
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