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Karlau A, Molina A, Antonini A, Peyrás SD. The influence of foreign lineages in the genetic component of reproductive traits in Criollo Argentino mares: a 30-year study. Livest Sci 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2022.105153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
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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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Laseca N, Molina A, Ramón M, Valera M, Azcona F, Encina A, Demyda-Peyrás S. Fine-Scale Analysis of Runs of Homozygosity Islands Affecting Fertility in Mares. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:754028. [PMID: 35252415 PMCID: PMC8891756 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.754028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The loss of genetic variability in livestock populations bred under strict selection processes is a growing concern, as it may lead to increased inbreeding values and lower fertility, as a consequence of the “inbreeding depression” effect. This is particularly important in horses, where inbreeding levels tend to rise as individuals become more and more closely related. In this study, we evaluated the effect of increased inbreeding levels on mare fertility by combining an SNP-based genomic approach using runs of homozygosity and the estimation of genetic breeding values for reproductive traits in a large population of Pura Raza Española mares. Our results showed a negative correlation between whole-genome homozygosity and fertility estimated breeding values (EBVs) at the genome level (ρ = −0.144). However, the analysis at chromosome level revealed a wide variability, with some chromosomes showing higher correlations than others. Interestingly, the correlation was stronger (−0.241) when we repeated the analysis in a reduced dataset including the 10% most and least fertile individuals, where the latter showed an increase in average inbreeding values (FROH) of around 30%. We also found 41 genomic regions (ROHi, runs of homozygosity islands) where homozygosity increased 100-fold, 13 of which were significantly associated with fertility after cross-validation. These regions encompassed 17 candidate genes previously related to oocyte and embryo development in several species. Overall, we demonstrated the relationship between increased homozygosis at the genomic level and fertility in mares. Our findings may help to deal with the occurrence of inbreeding depression, as well as further our understanding of the mechanisms underlying fertility in mares.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora Laseca
- Laboratorio de Diagnóstico Genético Veterinario, Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain
| | - Antonio Molina
- Laboratorio de Diagnóstico Genético Veterinario, Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain
| | - Manuel Ramón
- Cersyra de Valdepeñas, Instituto Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario y Forestal Castilla La Mancha, Tomelloso, Spain
| | - Mercedes Valera
- Departamento de Agronomía, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Florencia Azcona
- IGEVET (UNLP-CONICET LA PLATA), Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Ana Encina
- Departamento de Agronomía, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
- Asociación Nacional de Criadores de Caballos de Pura Raza Española, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Sebastián Demyda-Peyrás
- Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET LA PLATA), La Plata, Argentina
- *Correspondence: Sebastián Demyda-Peyrás
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Perdomo-González DI, Molina A, Sánchez-Guerrero MJ, Bartolomé E, Varona L, Valera M. Genetic inbreeding depression load for fertility traits in Pura Raza Española mares. J Anim Sci 2021; 99:6414403. [PMID: 34718615 PMCID: PMC8645228 DOI: 10.1093/jas/skab316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Fertility is a key factor in the economic success of horse farms. However, it has received little attention due to the difficulty of measuring fertility objectively. Since its studbook creation (1912), the Pura Raza Española (PRE) breed has been a closed population and become high in-bred resulting in inbreeding depression (poor phenotypic values). Nevertheless, heterogeneous effects of inbreeding depression have been detected among founders and nonfounders. The aims of this study were (1) to analyze the genetic parameters for reproductive traits in mares of the PRE horse breed and (2) to estimate, for the first time, the inbreeding depression load associated with common ancestors of the breed. A total of 22,799 mares were analyzed. Heritability estimates ranged from 0.05 (interval between first and second foaling) to 0.16 (age at first foaling), whereas inbreeding depression load ratios ranged from 0.06 (parturition efficiency at 6th foaling) to 0.17 (age at first foaling), for a partial inbreeding coefficient of 10%. Although heritability is related to the variability expressed in the population, inbreeding depression load ratios measure the potential variability, whether expressed in the population or not. Most correlations between additive and inbreeding depression load genetic values were significant (P < 0.001) and of low to moderate magnitude. Our results confirm that individual inbreeding depression loads allow us to select horses that have a genetic value resistant to the deleterious effects of inbreeding.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Antonio Molina
- Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain
| | - María J Sánchez-Guerrero
- Departamento de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Bioquímica, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Ester Bartolomé
- Departamento de Agronomía, ETSIA, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Luis Varona
- Departamento de Anatomía Embriología y Genética Animal, Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Mercedes Valera
- Departamento de Agronomía, ETSIA, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
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