title: Genome-wide Association Study Identifies Loci for the Polled Phenotype in Yak.
abstract: The absence of horns, known as the polled phenotype, is an economically important trait in modern yak husbandry, but the genomic structure and genetic basis of this phenotype have yet to be discovered. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study with a panel of 10 horned and 10 polled yaks using whole genome sequencing. We mapped the POLLED locus to a 200-kb interval, which comprises three protein-coding genes. Further characterization of the candidate region showed recent artificial selection signals resulting from the breeding process. We suggest that expressional variations rather than structural variations in protein probably contribute to the polled phenotype. Our results not only represent the first and important step in establishing the genomic structure of the polled region in yak, but also add to our understanding of the polled trait in bovid species.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding Engineering Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chunnian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lizhong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding Engineering Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xuezhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Mingcheng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding Engineering Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiuyue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding Engineering Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D016678:Genome; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D006733:Horns; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide