Recommended Citation
Benfica, Lorena F.; Brito, Luiz F.; do Bem, Ricardo D.; de Oliveira, Leticia F.; Mulim, Henrique A.; Braga, Larissa G.; Cyrillo, Joslaine N.S.G.; Bonilha, Sarah F.M.; and Mercadante, Maria Eugenia Z., "Detection and characterization of copy number variation in three differentially-selected Nellore cattle populations" (2024). Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. Paper 210.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2024.1377130
DOI
10.3389/fgene.2024.1377130
Date of this Version
4-16-2024
Keywords
beef cattle, copy number variation, gene annotation, Nellore, residual feed intake, SNP panel
Abstract
Introduction: Nellore cattle (Bos taurus indicus) is the main beef cattle breed raised in Brazil. This breed is well adapted to tropical conditions and, more recently, has experienced intensive genetic selection for multiple performance traits. Over the past 43 years, an experimental breeding program has been developed in the Institute of Animal Science (IZ, Sertaozinho, SP, Brazil), which resulted in three differentially-selected lines known as Nellore Control (NeC), Nellore Selection (NeS), and Nellore Traditional (NeT). The primary goal of this selection experiment was to determine the response to selection for yearling weight (YW) and residual feed intake (RFI) on Nellore cattle. The main objectives of this study were to: 1) identify copy number variation (CNVs) in Nellore cattle from three selection lines; 2) identify and characterize CNV regions (CNVR) on these three lines; and 3) perform functional enrichment analyses of the CNVR identified.
Results: A total of 14,914 unique CNVs and 1,884 CNVRs were identified when considering all lines as a single population. The CNVRs were non-uniformly distributed across the chromosomes of the three selection lines included in the study. The NeT line had the highest number of CNVRs (n = 1,493), followed by the NeS (n = 823) and NeC (n = 482) lines. The CNVRs covered 23,449,890 bp (0.94%), 40,175,556 bp (1.61%), and 63,212,273 bp (2.54%) of the genome of the NeC, NeS, and NeT lines, respectively. Two CNVRs were commonly identified between the three lines, and six, two, and four exclusive regions were identified for NeC, NeS, and NeT, respectively. All the exclusive regions overlap with important genes, such as SMARCD3, SLC15A1, and MAPK1. Key biological processes associated with the candidate genes were identified, including pathways related to growth and metabolism.
Conclusion: This study revealed large variability in CNVs and CNVRs across three Nellore lines differentially selected for YW and RFI. Gene annotation and gene ontology analyses of the exclusive CNVRs to each line revealed specific genes and biological processes involved in the expression of growth and feed efficiency traits. These findings contribute to the understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying the phenotypic differences among the three Nellore selection lines.
Comments
This is the publisher PDF of Benfica LF, Brito LF, do Bem RD, de Oliveira LF, Mulim HA, Braga LG, Cyrillo JNSG, Bonilha SFM and Mercadante MEZ (2024) Detection and characterization of copy number variation in three differentially-selected Nellore cattle populations. Frontiers in Genetics 15:1377130. This article is distributed under a CC-BY license, and is available at DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1377130.