title: Fine mapping of quantitative trait loci underlying sensory meat quality traits in three French beef cattle breeds.
abstract: Improving the traits that underlie meat quality is a major challenge in the beef industry. The objective of this paper was to detect QTL linked to sensory meat quality traits in 3 French beef cattle breeds. We genotyped 1,059, 1,219, and 947 young bulls and their sires belonging to the Charolais, Limousin, and Blonde d'Aquitaine breeds, respectively, using the Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA). After estimating relevant genetic parameters using VCE software, we performed a linkage disequilibrium and linkage analysis on 4 meat traits: intramuscular fat content, muscle lightness, shear force, and tenderness score. Heritability coefficients largely ranged between 0.10 and 0.24; however, they reached a maximum of 0.44 and 0.50 for intramuscular fat content and tenderness score, respectively, in the Charolais breed. The 2 meat texture traits, shear force and tenderness score, were strongly genetically correlated (-0.91 in the Charolais and Limousin breed and -0.86 in the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed), indicating that they are 2 different measures of approximately the same trait. The genetic correlation between tenderness and intramuscular fat content differed across breeds. Using a significance threshold of 5 × 10(-4) for QTL detection, we found more than 200 significant positions across the 29 autosomal chromosomes for the 4 traits in the Charolais and Blonde d'Aquitaine breeds; in contrast, there were only 78 significant positions in the Limousin breed. Few QTL were common across breeds. We detected QTL for intramuscular fat content located near the myostatin gene in the Charolais and Blonde d'Aquitaine breeds. No mutation in this gene has been reported for the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed; therefore, it suggests that an unknown mutation could be segregating in this breed. We confirmed that, in certain breeds, markers in the calpastatin and calpain 1 gene regions affect tenderness. We also found new QTL as several QTL on chromosome 3 that are significantly associated with meat tenderness in the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed. Overall, these results greatly contribute to the goal of building a panel of markers that can be used to select animals of high meat quality.
authors.affiliation: INRA, AgroParisTech, UMR1313 Unité de Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative, F-78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France Union Nationale des Coopératives agricoles d'Elevage et d'Insémination Animale, F-75595 Paris Cedex 12, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Allais
authors.affiliation: INRA, Université de Limoges, UMR1061 Unité de Génétique Moléculaire Animale, F-87060 Limoges, France.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Levéziel
authors.affiliation: INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR1213, Recherches sur les Herbivores, F-63122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Hocquette
authors.affiliation: INRA, Clermont Université, UMR1019 Unité de Nutrition Humaine, Centre de Recherches en Nutrition Humaine d'Auvergne, F-63001 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rousset
authors.affiliation: Institut de l'Elevage, F-75595 Paris Cedex 12, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Denoyelle
authors.affiliation: Institut de l'Elevage, F-75595 Paris Cedex 12, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Journaux
authors.affiliation: INRA, Clermont Université, UMR1019 Unité de Nutrition Humaine, Centre de Recherches en Nutrition Humaine d'Auvergne, F-63001 Clermont-Ferrand, France gilles.renand@jouy.inra.fr.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Renand
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002154:Calpain / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005260:Female; D063427:Food Quality; D005602:France; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D055435:Myostatin / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics*; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D055435:Myostatin; C033668:calpastatin; D002154:Calpain
keywords: beef cattle; fine mapping; meat quality; quantitative trait loci