Single nucleotide polymorphism in Egyptian cattle insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 gene

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) gene is a structural gene responsible for the multiple influences of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) system. It is considered as a candidate gene for growth and production traits. In the present study, we aimed to determine the genetic polymorphism of Egyptian cattle IGFBP-3 gene.The amplified fragment of cattle IGFBP-3 gene at 651-bp was digested with three different endonucleases; HaeIII, MspI and TaqI. The digestion of the PCR products with MspI and TaqI endonucleases revealed similar restriction patterns in all tested animals.Digestion of the PCR product with HaeIII restriction enzyme revealed three different genotypes in Egyptian cattle due to the presence of two alleles; allele A with 7 digested fragments resulting from the presence of 6 restriction sites and allele C with 8 digested fragments resulting from the presence of 7 restriction sites; six sites as allele A in the addition of another restriction site at position 298^299 as a result of SNP (A → C) in C allele at position 299. The restriction patterns of IGFBP-3/HaeIII showed that forty-six examined animals are genotyped as AA, CC and AC with frequencies of 21.74%, 21.74% and 56.52%, respectively.It is concluded that the IGFBP-3/HaeIII polymorphism may be utilized as a good marker for genetic differentiation between cattle animals for different body functions such as growth, metabolism, reproduction, immunity and energy balance. The nucleotide sequences of Egyptian cattle IGFBP-3 A and C alleles were submitted to GenBank with the accession numbers KF899893 and KF899894, respectively.     

Analysis of genetic relationships between 10 cattle breeds with 17 microsatellites

To guide genetic conservation programmes with objective criteria, general genetic variability has to be taken into account. This study was conducted to determine the genetic variation between 10 cattle breeds by using 17 microsatellite loci and 13 biochemical markers (11 blood groups, the transferrin and β-casein loci). Microsatellite loci were amplified in 31–50 unrelated individuals from 10 cattle breeds: Charolais, Limousin, Breton Black Pied, Parthenais, Montbéliard, Vosgien, Maine-Anjou, Normande, Jersey and Holstein. Neighbor-joining trees were calculated from genetic distance estimates. The robustness of tree topology was obtained by bootstrap resampling of loci. A total of 210 alleles of the 17 microsatellites were detected in this study and average heterozygosities ranged from 0·53 in the Jersey breed to 0·66 in the Parthenais breed. In general, low bootstrap values were obtained: with the 17 microsatellites, the highest bootstrap values concerned the Holstein/Maine-Anjou grouping with an occurrence of 74%; with the biochemical markers, this node had an occurrence of 79% and the Charolais/Limousin grouping appeared with an occurrence of 74%; when microsatellites and biochemical polymorphism were analysed together, the occurrence of the Holstein/Maine-Anjou grouping was 90% and that of the Charolais/Limousin grouping was 42%. These results suggest that 30 microsatellites, a number currently considered as sufficient to distinguish closely related breeds is, in fact, probably insufficient.     

Black-ear gene and blood polymorphism in four southern Chinese cattle groups

The gene for black-ear coat colour pattern, commonly found among cattle of tropical origin, was observed in 809 animals of four breeds of local cattle in southern China. Gene frequencies for Tf, Hb and Alb demonstrated that these groups of cattle were quite divergent from Bos taurus. These breeds of cattle are thought to be descended from ancient Chinese cattle. At the same time certain influences observed in coat colour may be derived from Bali cattle.     

Peptidase B polymorphism in cattle erythrocytes

Starch gel electrophoresis and histochemical staining withl-leucylglycyl-glycine revealed genetic polymorphism in peptidase B in cattle erythrocytes. Genetic analysis of 164 full families indicated that the three phenotypes observed are the product of an autosomal locus with two codominant alleles,PepB ¹ andPep B ², A sample consisting of 2630 individuals representing 5 Zebu, 13 European, and 2 crossbred breeds was studied. This polymorphism was observed in all Zebu and crossbred breeds. The frequency of thePep B ¹ allele was 0.89, 0.83, 0.59, 0.82 and 0.62 in the Nellore, Gyr, Guzerat, Indubrazil, and Tabapuan breeds, respectively. ThePep B ² allele appears to be fixed in the European breeds, except Marchigiana and Chianina. This work was supported by the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq).     

Genetic relationships among European cattle breeds

Genetic relationships among 37 European cattle breeds were investigated using blood group and serum protein polymorphisms. The 18 859 animals included in the study represented a random sample from pedigree populations in the UK. Within-breed variation was estimated by average heterozygosity and number of alleles observed, and breed relationships were evaluated by genetic distance. Standard errors of the heterozygosity, number of alleles and genetic distance were obtained by bootstrapping. The significance of breed differences was tested using an exact test of differentiation. French, Italian and Channel Island breeds were found to have generally higher heterozygosities and a greater number of alleles than breeds from mainland Britain and North Europe. Genetic distances ranged between 0·011 (±0·005) and 0·309 (±0·071). Two major breed groups were identified; a group of French, Italian and Channel Island breeds together with the Simmental and Gelbvieh, and a second group consisting of the mainland British and North European breeds. The exact test of breed differentiation showed all breeds to be significantly different from one another ( P < 0·0001). Overall relationships among breeds reflected their geographical origin and common ancestry rather than the agricultural use for which the breeds have been selected.     

Phylogenetic relationships of Northeast Asian cattle to other cattle populations determined using mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence polymorphism

Phylogenetic relationships of Northeast Asian cattle to various other cattle breeds including Bos taurus, Bos indicus, and Bison bison were assessed using mtDNA D-loop sequences. A neighbor-joining tree was constructed using sequences determined for 4 Cheju Black, 4 Cheju Yellow, 4 Korean Yellow cattle (Bos taurus), and 2 American Brahman cattle (Bos indicus), and also published sequences for 31 Japanese Black cattle, 45 European breed cattle, 6 African zebus, 2 African taurines, and 6 Indian zebus. Five American bisons (Bison bison) were used as an outgroup. The neighbor-joining tree showed that American bisons and Indian zebus are clearly separate from other cattle breeds, respectively, and African cattle clustered together, although with a low bootstrap probability (<50%). Results indicate that cattle in Northeast Asia, Europe, and Africa are closely related to each other–suggesting their recent divergence, but are separate from Indian zebus.     

Red cell carbonic anhydrase polymorphism in Indian Zebu cattle and their crossbreds

Red cell carbonic anhydrase (Ca) types were investigated in 750 animals from three zebu, two exotic and three crossbred breeds. A Ca isozyme of slower mobility than the S isozyme was observed in four Sahiwal animals. The gene frequency of Ca^S , which was the predominant allele in all the breeds investigated ranged from 0.88 to 1.0.     

采用微卫星标记分析13个中外牛品种的遗传变异和品种间的遗传关系

本研究应用联合国粮农组织(FAO)和国际动物遗传学会(ISAG)推荐的10对微卫星引物,结合荧光–多重PCR技术,检测了10个中国地方黄牛品种和3个外来牛品种的基因型。通过计算基因频率、多态信息含量和遗传杂合度,以Nei’s遗传距离和Nei’s标准遗传距离为基础,采用非加权组对算术平均聚类法构建了聚类图,分析了13个牛品种的群体内遗传变异和群体间遗传关系。并以聚类分析和群体结构分析为基础,将13个中外黄牛品种分为三类:Ⅰ类属于普通黄牛品种,包括延边牛、沿江牛、长白地方牛、蒙古牛、阿勒泰白头牛、哈萨克牛、复州牛和西藏牛;Ⅱ类属于含有瘤牛血统的黄牛品种,包括日喀则驼峰牛和阿沛甲咂牛;Ⅲ类属于外来牛品种,包括德国黄牛、西门塔尔牛和夏洛来牛。研究结果为加强我国地方黄牛品种种质特性研究以及地方牛品种资源的保护与利用提供了科学的依据。     

中国黄牛品种多样性及其保护

总结关于中国黄牛起源和品种多样的文献,依据头颅骨分类,毛色,血液蛋白多态性,体型体态,梁色体组型,线粒体DNA和考古论证的资料可知,在各地的牛种中,中国的无峰牛来自于两种原牛,在长城以北有长角型的普通牛的分支土雷诺蒙古利亚（truano-mognolia)和青藏高原有矮型的短角型普通牛（draft pimigenius),有峰牛来自于三种原牛,来自北非,西亚的瘤牛,印度瘤牛和东南亚瘤牛,这些牛的后裔大多以混血种形态存在,关中和中原地区牛受西亚瘤牛的影响,胸垂较发达,多皱折,体格圈套 ,云南部分高峰牛受印度瘤牛影响,东南地区高峰牛为古代准牛属爪哇牛被东南亚瘤牛吸收杂交的后裔,属矮小型,体躯体而皱折贫乏,肩峰属头位,耳端较尖而不下垂,在起源上,藏牛为原始种,海南高峰牛（zebu sinsis)为一个瘤牛的发源地,云南高峰牛是一个特殊种,击阳牛是含有非洲瘤牛血淮的特殊种,全国的黄牛在总体上可分为两大系统三大类型,根据体态特征分为无峰,低身和有峰三种,按地理分布为蒙古,黄淮和长珠三组,现代国民经济发展引进30个外国品种,加速了地方品种的灭绝,本文还提出了农牛保种应以特殊品种和边缘地区以及特有生态区牛种为主要的主张。     

Linkage between amylase-1 locus and a major gene for milk fat content in cattle

Summary
Linkage between the amylase-1 ( Am-1 ) locus and a quantitative trait locus influencing fat content in milk was studied in offspring from heterozygous sires of the Swedish Red and White dairy breed. The effect on bull breeding values for fat content was estimated as interactions between sire and paternal Am-1 allele using a model eliminating the direct effects of sire and Am-1 allele. There were strong indications of linkage, confirming results of previous studies. The interaction was caused by strong associations in 7 out of 14 sire families. A test for within-family variance heterogeneity performed on the whole population of breeding bulls also supported the presence of a major gene for fat content in milk. The results indicate that there is genetic linkage between the Am-1 locus and a locus with large effect on milk fat content.     

Genetic diversity,introgression and relationships among West/Central African cattle breeds

Genetic diversity, introgression and relationships were studied in 521 individuals from 9 African Bos indicus and 3 Bos taurus cattle breeds in Cameroon and Nigeria using genotype information on 28 markers (16 microsatellite, 7 milk protein and 5 blood protein markers). The genotypes of 13 of the 16 microsatellite markers studied on three European (German Angus, German Simmental and German Yellow) and two Indian (Nelore and Ongole) breeds were used to assess the relationships between them and the African breeds. Diversity levels at microsatellite loci were higher in the zebu than in the taurine breeds and were generally similar for protein loci in the breeds in each group. Microsatellite allelic distribution displayed groups of alleles specific to the Indian zebu, African taurine and European taurine. The level of the Indian zebu genetic admixture proportions in the African zebus was higher than the African taurine and European taurine admixture proportions, and ranged from 58.1% to 74.0%. The African taurine breed, Muturu was free of Indian zebu genes while its counter Namchi was highly introgressed (30.2%). Phylogenic reconstruction and principal component analysis indicate close relationships among the zebu breeds in Cameroon and Nigeria and a large genetic divergence between the main cattle groups – African taurine, European taurine and Indian zebu, and a central position for the African zebus. The study presents the first comprehensive information on the hybrid composition of the individual cattle breeds of Cameroon and Nigeria and the genetic relationships existing among them and other breeds outside of Africa. Strong evidence supporting separate domestication events for the Bos species is also provided.     

Genetic relationships between feral cattle from Chirikof Island, Alaska and other breeds

The origin of cattle on Chirikof Island, off the coast of Alaska, is not well documented. We assessed genetic differentiation of cattle isolated on Chirikof Island from several breeds commonly used for commercial production in North America including breeds popularly believed to have contributed to the Chirikof Island population. A set of 34 microsatellite loci was used to genotype Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Highland, Limousin, Red Angus, Salers, Shorthorn, Simmental, Tarentaise and Texas Longhorn cattle sampled from North America and the Chirikof Island population. Resulting F(ST) statistics for these loci ranged from 0.06 to 0.22 and on average, 14% of total genetic variation was between breeds. Whether population structure was modelled as a bifurcating tree or genetic network, Chirikof Island cattle appeared to be unique and strongly differentiated relative to the other breeds that were sampled. Bayesian clustering for multiple-locus assignment to genetic groups indicated low levels of admixture in the Chirikof Island population. Thus, the Chirikof Island population may be a novel genetic resource of some importance for conservation and industry.     

Relationships between rare breeds of sheep in the Netherlands as based on blood-typing

Genetic distances between seven Dutch rare breeds of sheep were established as based upon blood groups and biochemical polymorphisms, A rather close relationship was observed between three breeds of heath sheep (Drente, Veluwe and Kempen) and the Schoonebeker sheep, The Mergelland sheep was less related to this cluster, The largest distances were between Friesian sheep and Black Blaze sheep and all others.     

Male-mediated introgression of Bos indicus genes into Argentine and Bolivian Creole cattle breeds

The geographic distribution and frequency of Bos taurus and Bos indicus Y chromosome haplotypes amongst Argentine and Bolivian Creole cattle breeds were studied, using cytogenetic and molecular genetic techniques. A complete correspondence between Y chromosome morphology and the haplotype of the Y-linked microsatellite marker INRA 124 was found in all males examined. The taurine and indicine haplotypes were detected in 85.7 and 14.3% of the males studied, respectively, although these frequencies varied amongst the different breeds examined. The geographic distribution of this polymorphism suggests a pattern of zebu introgression in South America. The highest frequencies of the Zebu Y-chromosome are found in Brazilian populations (43-90%), in the eastern part of the continent, while it is absent in the southernmost breeds from Uruguay and Argentina. Bolivian breeds, at the centre of the continent, exhibit intermediate values (17-41%). This east/west and north/south gradient of male Zebu introgression could be explained by historical events and environmental factors.     

Genetic variation in eight Chinese cattle breeds based on the analysis of microsatellite markers

Genetic variability and genetic relationships were investigated among eight Chinese cattle breeds using 12 microsatellite markers. Three hundred and fifty-two alleles were detected and the average number of alleles per locus ranged from 8.33 ± 1.67 in the Jiaxian breed to 21.33 ± 5.60 in the Qinchuan breed with a mean value of 13.91. The total number of alleles per microsatellite ranged from 21 (INRA005, HEL1) to 40 (HEL13), with a mean of 29.33 per locus. The fixation indices at the 12 loci in the eight breeds were very low with a mean of 0.006. A principal components analysis and the construction of a neighborjoining tree showed that these eight Chinese cattle breeds cluster into three groups i.e. the Yanbian andChineseHolstein, theNanyang and Jiaxian, and the four remaining breeds.This clustering agrees with the origin and geographical distributions of these Chinese breeds.     

Research on association between variants and haplotypes of TRPV1 and TRPA1 genes with growth traits in three cattle breeds

The objective of this study was to examine the association of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) and transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) genes polymorphisms with growth traits in three Chinese cattle breeds (Jiaxian red cattle, Qinchuan cattle and Luxi cattle). Through experiments we identified three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these three cattle breeds TRPV1 and TRPA1 genes using PCR-SSCP, (forced) PCR-RFLP methods. Three of these polymorphisms are all synonymous mutation which includes (NW_003104493.1: 30327 C?>?T), (NW_003104493.1: 33394 A?>?G) and (NW_003104493.1: 38471?G?>?A) are in exons. The other three polymorphisms are located at 3'UTR. Furthermore, we evaluated the haplotype frequency and the statistical analyses indicated that these SNPs of TRPV1 and TRPA1 genes were associated with bovine body height, body length, waist angle width, hucklebone width, cross ministry height, chest qingwidth (p?<?0.05) and recommendation height, cannon circumference (p?<?0.01) of Qingchuan cattle; body length, waist angle width (p?<?0.05) of Jiaxian red cattle; body weight, Body length, cannon circumference, chest circumference (p?<?0.05) and body height (p?<?0.01) of Luxi cattle. Our result confirms the polymorphisms in the TRPV1 and TRPA1 genes are associated with growth traits that may be used for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in three beef breeds programs.     

Detection of a new k-casein variant in milk of Pinzgauer cattle

A new k casein variant (k-CN G) with a frequency of 0.003 was demonstrated in Pinzgauer cattle from Austria and Bavaria, Germany by iso-electric focusing in polyacrylamide gels and by alkaline polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. k-CN G was not present in milk samples of Limpurger, another endangered breed.