title: Tetra-primer ARMS-PCR identifies the novel genetic variations of bovine HNF-4α gene associating with growth traits.
abstract: Hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α (HNF-4α), a member of the hepatocyte nuclear factor family, plays an important role in regulating the expression of genes involved in the development, differentiation and normal function of liver and pancreatic β cells, as well as the maintenance of glucose homeostasis. Tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system PCR (T-ARMS-PCR) is a new method offering fast detection and extreme simplicity at a negligible cost for SNP genotyping. In this paper, we characterize the polymorphisms of the bovine HNF-4α gene in three Chinese indigenous cattle breeds (n=660). Six novel SNPs were identified including 1 mutation in the coding region and others in introns. The statistical analyses indicated that 4 SNPs (g.T53729C, g.A53861G, g.A65188C and g.T65444C) affected growth traits markedly (P<0.05) in Qinchuan cattle (2 years after birth). Besides, haplotypes involving these 4 SNP sites in the bovine HNF-4α gene were identified and their effects on growth traits were also analyzed. The results showed that haplotypes 2, 7, 9 and 11 were predominant and accounted for 73.2%, 59.6%, and 67.1% in Qinchuan, Nanyang and Jiaxian cattle breeds, respectively. Hap9 (TAAT) was extremely predominant in all test populations, which suggested that individuals with Hap9 were more adapted to the environment. Furthermore, 4 combined haplotypes were constructed to guarantee the reliability of analysis results in Qinchuan cattle. There were also significant differences in body length (P<0.05). These findings will benefit for the application of DNA marker related to the growth traits on marker-assisted selection (MAS), and improve the performance of beef cattle.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
authors.forename: Zi-nian
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
authors.forename: Mi-jie
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
authors.forename: Xian-yong
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
authors.forename: Ming-xun
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
authors.forename: Chu-zhao
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China. Electronic address: chenhong1212@263.net.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D051557:Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4 / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D051557:Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4
keywords: Association analysis; HNF-4α; Haplotypes; SNP; T-ARMS-PCR