Exploring polymorphisms of the bovine RARRES2 gene and their associations with growth traits

Retinoic acid receptor responder 2 gene (RARRES2) encodes a novel adipokine protein that plays a crucial role in regulating several biological processes, including immune responses, adipocyte differentiation, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. In this paper, polymorphisms of the bovine RARRES2 gene were detected in 1300 individuals from six breeds by DNA pooling, CRS?CPCR?CRFLP and DNA sequencing methods. The results showed that NC_007302:g.117035859A>G, 117035706G>A and 117034290A>G were in the coding region, which resulted in three synonymous mutations and only 117033779C>G was in the 3?? UTR. Additionally, associations of the four novel SNPs with growth traits were analyzed in Nanyang cattle up to 2?years of age. In P1-PvuII locus, individuals with genotype BC had greater body height and hucklebone width than those with genotype AA, AC and AB at the age of 24?months. In P3-BamHI locus, individuals with genotype AG had higher hucklebone width than those with genotype GG at the age of 24?months. However, no statistically significant differences were observed in P5-SmaI locus. These results indicated that RARRES2 gene might be a potential candidate gene for marker-assisted selection (MAS).