title: Novel SNPs in the exon region of bovine DKK4 gene and their association with body measurement traits in Qinchuan cattle.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of bovine Dickkopf homolog 4 (DKK4) are associated with body measurement traits in Qinchuan cattle. By using PCR-SSCP technology and DNA sequencing, we discovered 5 DKK4 SNPs in Qingchuan cattle, including -65G>A and -77G>T in the 5'-untranslated region, 1532C>G and 1533T>C in exon 2, and 2088C>T in exon 3. The sequencing map showed that 1532C>G and 1533T>C were in close linkage disequilibrium and were treated as 1532C>G-1533T>C in this study. Allele frequencies were calculated and analyzed by the chi-square test, which showed that -65G>A and 1532C>G-1533T>C were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05), whereas -77G>T and 2088C>T were not in all 633 tested Qinchuan cattle individuals (P < 0.01). Gene heterozygosity (HE), effective allele number (NE), and polymorphism information content (PIC) were 0.407, 1.686, and 0.324 at -65G>A; 0.472, 1.894, and 0.361 at -77G>T; 0.476, 1.908, and 0.363 at 1532C>G-1533T>C; and 0.218, 1.279, and 0.195 at 2088C>T. We also evaluated the potential association of these SNPs with body measurement traits in all 633 individuals; the results suggest that several SNPs in Qinchuan cattle DKK4 were significantly associated with body length, hip height, rump length, hip width, heart girth, and pin bone width (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). These results suggest that bovine DKK4 could be used as candidate gene for Qinchuan cattle breeding.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Y K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: X H
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Adoligbe
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: C Z
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Zan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001823:Body Composition / Q000235:genetics; D001835:Body Weight / Q000235:genetics; D001947:Breeding; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005819:Genetic Markers; D005838:Genotype; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000662:veterinary*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins