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Tan WLA, Hudson NJ, Porto Neto LR, Reverter A, Afonso J, Fortes MRS. An association weight matrix identified biological pathways associated with bull fertility traits in a multi-breed population. Anim Genet 2024; 55:495-510. [PMID: 38692842 DOI: 10.1111/age.13431] [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: 11/16/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024]
Abstract
Using seven indicator traits, we investigated the genetic basis of bull fertility and predicted gene interactions from SNP associations. We used percent normal sperm as the key phenotype for the association weight matrix-partial correlation information theory (AWM-PCIT) approach. Beyond a simple list of candidate genes, AWM-PCIT predicts significant gene interactions and associations for the selected traits. These interactions formed a network of 537 genes: 38 genes were transcription cofactors, and 41 genes were transcription factors. The network displayed two distinct clusters, one with 294 genes and another with 243 genes. The network is enriched in fertility-associated pathways: steroid biosynthesis, p53 signalling, and the pentose phosphate pathway. Enrichment analysis also highlighted gene ontology terms associated with 'regulation of neurotransmitter secretion' and 'chromatin formation'. Our network recapitulates some genes previously implicated in another network built with lower-density genotypes. Sequence-level data also highlights additional candidate genes relevant to bull fertility, such as FOXO4, FOXP3, GATA1, CYP27B1, and EBP. A trio of regulatory genes-KDM5C, LRRK2, and PME-was deemed core to the network because of their overarching connections. This trio probably influences bull fertility through their interaction with genes, both known and unknown as to their role in male fertility. Future studies may target the trio and their target genes to enrich our understanding of male fertility further.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Liang Andre Tan
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Nicholas James Hudson
- School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland, Australia
| | | | | | - Juliana Afonso
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
- Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, Pecuária Sudeste, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
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Dominguez-Castaño P, Fortes M, Tan WLA, Toro-Ospina AM, Silva JAIV. Genome-wide association study for milk yield, frame, and udder conformation traits of Gir dairy cattle. J Dairy Sci 2024:S0022-0302(24)01031-2. [PMID: 39067750 DOI: 10.3168/jds.2024-24648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are employed to identify genomic regions and candidate genes associated with several traits. The aim of this study was to perform a GWAS to identify causative variants and genes associated with milk yield, frame, and udder conformation traits in Gir dairy cattle. Body conformation traits were classified as "frame," and "udder" traits for this study. After genotyping imputation and quality control 42,105 polymorphisms were available for analyses and 24,489 cows with pedigree information had phenotypes. First, P-value was calculated based on the variance of the prediction error of the SNP-effects on the first iteration. After that, 2 more iterations were performed to carry out the weighted single-step genome-wide association methodology, performed using genomic moving windows defined based on linkage disequilibrium. The significant SNPs and top 10 windows explaining the highest percentage of additive genetic variance were selected and used for QTL and gene annotation. The variants identified in our work overlapped with QTLs from the animal QTL database on chromosomes 1 to 23, except for chromosome 4. The Gir breed is less studied than the Holstein breed and as such the animal QTL database is biased to Holstein results. Hence it is noteworthy that our GWAS had similarities with previously described QTLs. These previously known QTLs were related to milk yield, body height, rump angle, udder width, and udder depth. In total, 5 genes were annotated. Of these genes, FAM13A and CMSS1 had been previously related to bone and carcass weight in cattle.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Dominguez-Castaño
- Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV), Universidade Estadual Paulista, Jaboticabal, São Paulo 14884-900, Brasil; Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Fundación Universitaria Agraria de Colombia-UNIAGRARIA, Bogotá 111166, Colombia; The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
| | - M Fortes
- The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - W L A Tan
- The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - A M Toro-Ospina
- Science and Humanities Faculty, Digital University Institute of Antioquia, IUDigital, Medellin 50010, Colombia
| | - J A Ii V Silva
- Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV), Universidade Estadual Paulista, Jaboticabal, São Paulo 14884-900, Brasil; Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ), Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, São Paulo 18618-000, Brasil.
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Olasege BS, Oh ZY, Tahir MS, Porto-Neto LR, Hayes BJ, Fortes MRS. Genomic regions and biological pathways associated with sex-limited reproductive traits in bovine species. J Anim Sci 2024; 102:skae085. [PMID: 38545844 PMCID: PMC11135212 DOI: 10.1093/jas/skae085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024] Open
Abstract
Many animal species exhibit sex-limited traits, where certain phenotypes are exclusively expressed in one sex. Yet, the genomic regions that contribute to these sex-limited traits in males and females remain a subject of debate. Reproductive traits are ideal phenotypes to study sexual differences since they are mostly expressed in a sex-limited way. Therefore, this study aims to use local correlation analyses to identify genomic regions and biological pathways significantly associated with male and female sex-limited traits in two distinct cattle breeds (Brahman [BB] and Tropical Composite [TC]). We used the Correlation Scan method to perform local correlation analysis on 42 trait pairs consisting of six female and seven male reproductive traits recorded on ~1,000 animals for each sex in each breed. To pinpoint a specific region associated with these sex-limited reproductive traits, we investigated the genomic region(s) consistently identified as significant across the 42 trait pairs in each breed. The genes found in the identified regions were subjected to Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) colocalization, QTL enrichment analyses, and functional analyses to gain biological insight into sexual differences. We found that the genomic regions associated with the sex-limited reproductive phenotypes are widely distributed across all the chromosomes. However, no single region across the genome was associated with all the 42 reproductive trait pairs in the two breeds. Nevertheless, we found a region on the X-chromosome to be most significant for 80% to 90% (BB: 33 and TC: 38) of the total 42 trait pairs. A considerable number of the genes in this region were regulatory genes. By considering only genomic regions that were significant for at least 50% of the 42 trait pairs, we observed more regions spread across the autosomes and the X-chromosome. All genomic regions identified were highly enriched for trait-specific QTL linked to sex-limited traits (percentage of normal sperm, metabolic weight, average daily gain, carcass weight, age at puberty, etc.). The gene list created from these identified regions was enriched for biological pathways that contribute to the observed differences between sexes. Our results demonstrate that genomic regions associated with male and female sex-limited reproductive traits are distributed across the genome. Yet, chromosome X seems to exert a relatively larger effect on the phenotypic variation observed between the sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Babatunde S Olasege
- The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Saint Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
- Ag and Food, CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Saint Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia
| | - Zhen Yin Oh
- The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Saint Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Muhammad S Tahir
- The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Saint Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
- Ag and Food, CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Saint Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia
| | | | - Ben J Hayes
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), Saint Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Marina R S Fortes
- The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Saint Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), Saint Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
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EL Nagar AG, Salem MMI, Amin AMS, Khalil MH, Ashour AF, Hegazy MM, Abdel-Shafy H. A Single-Step Genome-Wide Association Study for Semen Traits of Egyptian Buffalo Bulls. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:3758. [PMID: 38136796 PMCID: PMC10740893 DOI: 10.3390/ani13243758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/24/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The present study aimed to contribute to the limited research on buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) semen traits by incorporating genomic data. A total of 8465 ejaculates were collected. The genotyping procedure was conducted using the Axiom® Buffalo Genotyping 90 K array designed by the Affymetrix Expert Design Program. After conducting a quality assessment, we utilized 67,282 SNPs genotyped in 192 animals. We identified several genomic loci explaining high genetic variance by employing single-step genomic evaluation. The aforementioned regions were located on buffalo chromosomes no. 3, 4, 6, 7, 14, 16, 20, 22, and the X-chromosome. The X-chromosome exhibited substantial influence, accounting for 4.18, 4.59, 5.16, 5.19, and 4.31% of the genomic variance for ejaculate volume, mass motility, livability, abnormality, and concentration, respectively. In the examined genomic regions, we identified five novel candidate genes linked to male fertility and spermatogenesis, four in the X-chromosome and one in chromosome no. 16. Additional extensive research with larger sample sizes and datasets is imperative to validate these findings and evaluate their applicability for genomic selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayman G. EL Nagar
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture at Moshtohor, Benha University, Benha 13736, Egypt;
| | - Mohamed M. I. Salem
- Department of Animal and Fish Production, Faculty of Agriculture (El-Shatby), Alexandria University, Alexandria 21545, Egypt;
| | - Amin M. S. Amin
- Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12619, Egypt; (A.M.S.A.); (A.F.A.); (M.M.H.)
| | - Maher H. Khalil
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture at Moshtohor, Benha University, Benha 13736, Egypt;
| | - Ayman F. Ashour
- Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12619, Egypt; (A.M.S.A.); (A.F.A.); (M.M.H.)
| | - Mohammed M. Hegazy
- Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12619, Egypt; (A.M.S.A.); (A.F.A.); (M.M.H.)
| | - Hamdy Abdel-Shafy
- Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, El-Gamma Street, Giza 12613, Egypt;
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Tan WLA, Neto LRP, Reverter A, McGowan M, Fortes MRS. Sequence level genome-wide associations for bull production and fertility traits in tropically adapted bulls. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:365. [PMID: 37386436 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09475-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The genetics of male fertility is complex and not fully understood. Male subfertility can adversely affect the economics of livestock production. For example, inadvertently mating bulls with poor fertility can result in reduced annual liveweight production and suboptimal husbandry management. Fertility traits, such as scrotal circumference and semen quality are commonly used to select bulls before mating and can be targeted in genomic studies. In this study, we conducted genome-wide association analyses using sequence-level data targeting seven bull production and fertility traits measured in a multi-breed population of 6,422 tropically adapted bulls. The beef bull production and fertility traits included body weight (Weight), body condition score (CS), scrotal circumference (SC), sheath score (Sheath), percentage of normal spermatozoa (PNS), percentage of spermatozoa with mid-piece abnormalities (MP) and percentage of spermatozoa with proximal droplets (PD). RESULTS After quality control, 13,398,171 polymorphisms were tested for their associations with each trait in a mixed-model approach, fitting a multi-breed genomic relationship matrix. A Bonferroni genome-wide significance threshold of 5 × 10- 8 was imposed. This effort led to identifying genetic variants and candidate genes underpinning bull fertility and production traits. Genetic variants in Bos taurus autosome (BTA) 5 were associated with SC, Sheath, PNS, PD and MP. Whereas chromosome X was significant for SC, PNS, and PD. The traits we studied are highly polygenic and had significant results across the genome (BTA 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 23, 28, and 29). We also highlighted potential high-impact variants and candidate genes associated with Scrotal Circumference (SC) and Sheath Score (Sheath), which warrants further investigation in future studies. CONCLUSION The work presented here is a step closer to identifying molecular mechanisms that underpin bull fertility and production. Our work also emphasises the importance of including the X chromosome in genomic analyses. Future research aims to investigate potential causative variants and genes in downstream analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Liang Andre Tan
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Chemistry Bld, 68 Cooper Rd, Brisbane City, QLD, 4072, Australia.
| | | | - Antonio Reverter
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia
| | - Michael McGowan
- School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, 4343, Australia
| | - Marina Rufino Salinas Fortes
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Chemistry Bld, 68 Cooper Rd, Brisbane City, QLD, 4072, Australia
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Sanchez MP, Escouflaire C, Baur A, Bottin F, Hozé C, Boussaha M, Fritz S, Capitan A, Boichard D. X-linked genes influence various complex traits in dairy cattle. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:338. [PMID: 37337145 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09438-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The search for quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting traits of interest in mammals is frequently limited to autosomes, with the X chromosome excluded because of its hemizygosity in males. This study aimed to assess the importance of the X chromosome in the genetic determinism of 11 complex traits related to milk production, milk composition, mastitis resistance, fertility, and stature in 236,496 cows from three major French dairy breeds (Holstein, Montbéliarde, and Normande) and three breeds of regional importance (Abondance, Tarentaise, and Vosgienne). RESULTS Estimates of the proportions of heritability due to autosomes and X chromosome (h²X) were consistent among breeds. On average over the 11 traits, h²X=0.008 and the X chromosome explained ~ 3.5% of total genetic variance. GWAS was performed within-breed at the sequence level (~ 200,000 genetic variants) and then combined in a meta-analysis. QTL were identified for most breeds and traits analyzed, with the exception of Tarentaise and Vosgienne and two fertility traits. Overall, 3, 74, 59, and 71 QTL were identified in Abondance, Montbéliarde, Normande, and Holstein, respectively, and most were associated with the most-heritable traits (milk traits and stature). The meta-analyses, which assessed a total of 157 QTL for the different traits, highlighted new QTL and refined the positions of some QTL found in the within-breed analyses. Altogether, our analyses identified a number of functional candidate genes, with the most notable being GPC3, MBNL3, HS6ST2, and DMD for dairy traits; TMEM164, ACSL4, ENOX2, HTR2C, AMOT, and IRAK1 for udder health; MAMLD1 and COL4A6 for fertility; and NRK, ESX1, GPR50, GPC3, and GPC4 for stature. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates the importance of the X chromosome in the genetic determinism of complex traits in dairy cattle and highlights new functional candidate genes and variants for these traits. These results could potentially be extended to other species as many X-linked genes are shared among mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Pierre Sanchez
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, 78350, France.
| | | | | | - Fiona Bottin
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, 78350, France
| | | | - Mekki Boussaha
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, 78350, France
| | | | - Aurélien Capitan
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, 78350, France
| | - Didier Boichard
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, 78350, France
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Pausch H, Mapel XM. Review: Genetic mutations affecting bull fertility. Animal 2023; 17 Suppl 1:100742. [PMID: 37567657 DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2023.100742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Cattle are a well-suited "model organism" to study the genetic underpinnings of variation in male reproductive performance. The adoption of artificial insemination and genomic prediction in many cattle breeds provide access to microarray-derived genotypes and repeated measurements for semen quality and insemination success in several thousand bulls. Similar-sized mapping cohorts with phenotypes for male fertility are not available for most other species precluding powerful association testing. The repeated measurements of the artificial insemination bulls' semen quality enable the differentiation between transient and biologically relevant trait fluctuations, and thus, are an ideal source of phenotypes for variance components estimation and genome-wide association testing. Genome-wide case-control association testing involving bulls with either aberrant sperm quality or low insemination success revealed several causal recessive loss-of-function alleles underpinning monogenic reproductive disorders. These variants are routinely monitored with customised genotyping arrays in the male selection candidates to avoid the use of subfertile or infertile bulls for artificial insemination and natural service. Genome-wide association studies with quantitative measurements of semen quality and insemination success revealed quantitative trait loci for male fertility, but the underlying causal variants remain largely unknown. Moreover, these loci explain only a small part of the heritability of male fertility. Integrating genome-wide association studies with gene expression and other omics data from male reproductive tissues is required for the fine-mapping of candidate causal variants underlying variation in male reproductive performance in cattle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hubert Pausch
- Animal Genomics, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Universitaetstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Xena Marie Mapel
- Animal Genomics, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Universitaetstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
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Nascimento BM, Carvalheiro R, de A Teixeira R, Dias LT, Fortes MRS. Weak genotype x environment interaction suggests that measuring scrotal circumference at 12 and 18 months of age is helpful to select precocious Brahman cattle. J Anim Sci 2022; 100:6650229. [PMID: 35881500 PMCID: PMC9467030 DOI: 10.1093/jas/skac236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the genotype x environment interaction (GxE) for scrotal circumference (SC) measured at different ages using pedigree-based (A -1) and pedigree and genomic-based (H -1) relationship matrices. Data from 1,515 Brahman bulls, from the Cooperative Research Centre for Beef Genetic Technologies (Beef CRC) experimental dataset were used in this study. SC was adjusted to age and body weight measured at 6 months (SC6), 12 months (SC12), 18 months (SC18) and 24 months of age (SC24). Body weight (BW) measured at 6 months (BW6), 12 months (BW12), 18 months (BW18) and 24 months of age (BW24) were used as criteria to describe the environment for SC in each age. All the animals measured were genotyped using medium-density SNP chips ("50k" or "70k" SNP) and their genotype were imputed using a reference panel with 729,068 SNP. The environment gradient (EG) was obtained by standardizing the solutions of the contemporary groups obtained by Animal Model with BW as the dependent variable. Then, the reaction norms (RN) were determined through a Random Regression Model. The breeding values (EBV) were estimated using either A -1 or H -1. The rank correlation was obtained using Spearman's correlation among the EBV estimated for the traits in analysis. For SC6 and SC24, higher estimates of heritability (h²) were obtained using A -1, when compared to those observed with H -1. In those ages, the improvement of the environment decreases the h² coefficient. On the other hand, the h² for SC12 and SC18 increased as the environment became more favorable, regardless of the matrix used. The RN for SC6 and SC24 estimated using A -1 and H -1 showed a decrease of variance from the worst to the best environment, an indication of existence of GxE. On the other hand, for SC12 and SC18, there were no significant differences between the EBV estimated in the lower and in the higher environments, regardless of the kinship matrix used, suggesting absence of GxE on those ages. Spearman's correlation among EBV estimated using A -1 and H -1 in different EG were practically equal to unity for all traits evaluated. In our study, there was weak evidence of GxE effect on SC in ages suitable for selection for sexual precocity. So, the absence of GxE at 12 and 18 months means these ages are advantageous for measuring SC to selection for sexual precocity. The advantage is that no changes in classification were observed when the sires were evaluated in different environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bárbara M Nascimento
- Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
| | - Roberto Carvalheiro
- Department of Animal Science, Paulista State University, FCAV, Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Rodrigo de A Teixeira
- Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
| | - Laila T Dias
- Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
| | - Marina R S Fortes
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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Candidate Genes in Bull Semen Production Traits: An Information Approach Review. Vet Sci 2022; 9:vetsci9040155. [PMID: 35448653 PMCID: PMC9028852 DOI: 10.3390/vetsci9040155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Revised: 03/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Semen quality plays a crucial role in the successful implementation of breeding programs, especially where artificial insemination (AI) is practiced. Bulls with good semen traits have good fertility and can produce a volume of high semen per ejaculation. The aim of this review is to use an information approach to highlight candidate genes and their relation to bull semen production traits. The use of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has been demonstrated to be successful in identifying genomic regions and individual variations associated with production traits. Studies have reported over 40 genes associated with semen traits using Illumina BeadChip single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs).
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Laseca N, Demyda-Peyrás S, Valera M, Ramón M, Escribano B, Perdomo-González DI, Molina A. A genome-wide association study of mare fertility in the Pura Raza Español horse. Animal 2022; 16:100476. [PMID: 35247706 DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2022.100476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the economic importance of fertility for the horse industry, few efforts have been made to achieve a better understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying its control. This is probably due to the difficulty of obtaining reliable phenotypes and the complexity of modelling the environmental and management factors. This work is novel in that we propose to use reproductive efficiency (RE) as an indicator of mare fertility. To achieve this, we performed a genome-wide association study in the Pura Raza Español horse aimed at identifying genomic variants, regions, and candidate genes associated with fertility in mares. The dataset included 819 animals genotyped with the Affymetrix Axiom™ Equine 670 K single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) Genotyping Array and the deregressed breeding values for RE trait, obtained using a ssBLUP model, employed as pseudo-phenotypic data. Our results showed 28 SNPs potentially associated with RE, which explained 87.19% of the genetic variance and 6.61% of the phenotypic variance. Those results were further validated in BayesB, showing a correlation between observed and predicted RE of 0.57. In addition, 15 candidate genes (HTRA3, SPIRE1, APOE, ERCC1, FOXA3, NECTIN-2, KLC3, RSPH6A, PDPK1, MEIOB, PAQR4, NM3, PKD1, PRSS21, IFT140) previously related to fertility in mammals were associated with the markers and genomic regions significantly associated with RE. To our knowledge, this is the first genome-wide association study performed on mare fertility.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Laseca
- Departamento de Genética. Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, CN-IV km 396, 14071 Córdoba, España.
| | - S Demyda-Peyrás
- Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 60 y 118 s/n, La Plata 1900, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET) La Plata, La Plata 1900, Argentina
| | - M Valera
- Departamento de Agronomía, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica. Universidad de Sevilla, Ctra. Utrera, Km 1, Sevilla, Spain
| | - M Ramón
- Centro Regional de Selección y Reproducción Animal (CERSYRA), Av. del Vino, 10, 13300 Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real, Spain
| | - B Escribano
- Departamento de Fisiología, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, CN-IV km 396, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
| | - D I Perdomo-González
- Departamento de Agronomía, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica. Universidad de Sevilla, Ctra. Utrera, Km 1, Sevilla, Spain
| | - A Molina
- Departamento de Genética. Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, CN-IV km 396, 14071 Córdoba, España
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11
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TOGLA OSHIN, DEB SM, KADYAN SAGAR, KUMAR SUSHIL, NANDHINI PB, MUKHERJEE ANUPAMA. Association of milk production and udder type traits with polymorphism of phosphorylase kinase regulatory subunit alpha-2 gene in Sahiwal cattle. THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.56093/ijans.v91i8.115923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The study was conducted in Sahiwal cattle in tropical region in the Indian sub-continent where the production of dairy animals is yet to be optimised. The present investigation was executed to identify SNPs in PHKA2 gene and to explore its effect on udder type and milk production traits. The study was based on the hypothesis that the PHKA2 gene has highly variable exons that could be related with udder traits and eventually milk production. PHKA2 gene regulates glycogen phosphorylase a, a catalyst in breakdown of glycogen. Milk production traits were recorded; 9 udder type, 5 teat type and 8 visual traits were measured for 100 animals. Five highly variable targeted regions of PHKA2 gene were amplified using PCR and sequenced. The association analysis was carried out using general linear model (SAS) to study the fixed effect of genotype on studied traits. The synonymous type SNP g.124556852C>T was found for the first time in Sahiwal cattle and possibly associated with udder type traits. The genotypic frequencies with respect to targeted loci g.124556852C>T indicated that homozygote CC (0.58) were highest in our resource population. The chi-square 2 test showed an agreement to Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. The association analysis revealed significant association of genotypes with udder width, udder balance and 305 days milk yield. The attempt to find significant association with the visual udder traits was also done, however no significant alliance was observed. Homozygote CC animal were desirable as they favoured the selection of animal with superior udder width, udder balance and 305 day’s Milk Yield values.
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Hiltpold M, Kadri NK, Janett F, Witschi U, Schmitz-Hsu F, Pausch H. Autosomal recessive loci contribute significantly to quantitative variation of male fertility in a dairy cattle population. BMC Genomics 2021; 22:225. [PMID: 33784962 PMCID: PMC8010996 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07523-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 03/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cattle are ideally suited to investigate the genetics of male fertility. Semen from individual bulls is used for thousands of artificial inseminations for which the fertilization success is monitored. Results from the breeding soundness examination and repeated observations of semen quality complement the fertility evaluation for each bull. RESULTS In a cohort of 3881 Brown Swiss bulls that had genotypes at 683,609 SNPs, we reveal four novel recessive QTL for male fertility on BTA1, 18, 25, and 26 using haplotype-based association testing. A QTL for bull fertility on BTA1 is also associated with sperm head shape anomalies. All other QTL are not associated with any of the semen quality traits investigated. We perform complementary fine-mapping approaches using publicly available transcriptomes as well as whole-genome sequencing data of 125 Brown Swiss bulls to reveal candidate causal variants. We show that missense or nonsense variants in SPATA16, VWA3A, ENSBTAG00000006717 and ENSBTAG00000019919 are in linkage disequilibrium with the QTL. Using whole-genome sequence data, we detect strong association (P = 4.83 × 10- 12) of a missense variant (p.Ile193Met) in SPATA16 with male fertility. However, non-coding variants exhibit stronger association at all QTL suggesting that variants in regulatory regions contribute to variation in bull fertility. CONCLUSION Our findings in a dairy cattle population provide evidence that recessive variants may contribute substantially to quantitative variation in male fertility in mammals. Detecting causal variants that underpin variation in male fertility remains difficult because the most strongly associated variants reside in poorly annotated non-coding regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Hiltpold
- Animal Genomics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Eschikon 27, 8315, Lindau, Switzerland.
| | - Naveen Kumar Kadri
- Animal Genomics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Eschikon 27, 8315, Lindau, Switzerland
| | - Fredi Janett
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Hubert Pausch
- Animal Genomics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Eschikon 27, 8315, Lindau, Switzerland
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Olasege BS, Tahir MS, Gouveia GC, Kour J, Porto-Neto LR, Hayes BJ, Fortes MRS. Genetic parameter estimates for male and female fertility traits using genomic data to improve fertility in Australian beef cattle. ANIMAL PRODUCTION SCIENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.1071/an21097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Context
Studies have shown that favourable genetic correlations exist between female and male fertility traits. However, investigations regarding these correlations in Australian tropical beef cattle are limited to either pedigree or single-breed analysis.
Aim
The study aims to use genomic information to estimate genetic parameters of six female and seven male fertility traits measured during the first 2 years of life, in two tropical breeds.
Methods
Single-, bivariate and multi-trait models were used to analyse fertility data from Brahman (BB; 996 cows and 1022 bulls); and Tropical Composite (TC; 1091 cows and 998 bulls) cattle genotyped with high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism chip assay.
Key results
Heritability estimates in BB cows ranged from low (0.07 ± 0.04) for days to calving at the first calving opportunity (DC1, days) to high (0.57 ± 0.08) for age at first corpus luteum (AGECL, days). In BB bulls, estimates varied from low (0.09 ± 0.05) for sperm motility (score 1–5) to high (0.64 ± 0.06) for scrotal circumference (SC) measured at 24 months (SC24, cm). Similarly, heritability estimates in TC cows were low (0.04 ± 0.03) for DC1 and high (0.69 ± 0.02) for AGECL. In TC bulls, the heritability was low (0.09 ± 0.05) for sperm motility and high (0.69 ± 0.07) for SC24. Within-sex for both breeds, blood concentrations of insulin growth-factor 1 (IGF1) measured in cows at 18 months (IGF1c) were negatively correlated with female fertility phenotypes. In BB, across-sex, bulls’ blood concentration of IGF1 measured at 6 months (IGF1b) was a good indicator trait for the following four female traits: AGECL, the first postpartum anoestrus interval, age at first calving and DC1. In TC, IGF1b and percentage normal sperm were good predictors of female fertility phenotypes.
Conclusions
The heritability estimates and genomic correlations from the present study generally support and confirmed the earlier estimates from pedigree analyses. The findings suggest that selection for female fertility traits will benefit male fertility, and vice versa.
Implications
Heritability estimates and genomic correlations suggest that we can select for fertility traits measured early in life, with benefits within and across sex. Using traits available through veterinary assessment of bull fertility as selection indicators will enhance bull and cow fertility, which can lead to better breeding rates in tropical herds.
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