Bovine GDF10 Gene Polymorphism Analysis And Its Associations With Body Measurement Traits In Chinese Indigenous Cattle

The objective of this research was to detect bovine GDF10 gene polymorphism and analyze its association with body measurement traits (BMT) of animals sampled from 6 different Chinese indigenous cattle populations. The population include Xuelong(Xl), Luxi(Lx), Qinchuan(Qc), Jiaxian red(Jx), Xianang(Xn) and Nanyang(Ny). Blood samples were from a total of 417 female animals stratified into age categories of 12 months to 36 months. Polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) was employed to find out GDF10 single polymorphism nucleotide (SNPs) and explore their possible association with BMT. Sequence analysis of GDF10 gene revealed 3 SNPs in total:1 in exon1 (G142A) and 2 in exon3 (A11471G, and T12495C). *G142A SNP is a synonymous mutation. It showed 2 genotypes named GG an GA. The mutant allele A is absent in Nanyang cattle population. Theχ~2 test showed that genotypic distributions in all the population involved agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Analysis of association of polymorphism with body measurement trait at G142A locus showed that there were significant effects on Hip Width (HW), Chest Depth(CD), (P<0.01) and Chest Circumference(CC) (P<0.05) in the Jx cattle population. GG genotype has the higher mean value for all the traits involved and might be the favorable genotype.* A11471G SNP is a missense mutation leading to the change of Alanine to Threonine amino acid. It showed three genotypes named AA, BB and AB. Theχ~2 test showed that except Xl population, genotypic distributions in all the others population involved agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Least Squares Analysis revealed there were significant effects between different genotypes on Body Length (BL), Body Height (BH), Rump Length (RL), Hip Width (HW) and Chest Circumference (CC) in Qx cattle population, on Body Length (BL), Body Height (BH), Hip Height (HH), Chest Depth (CD) and Chest Circumference (CC) in Jx cattle population and on Body Length (BL) and Hip Height (HH) in Ny cattle population. In most of the case AB genotype has the highest mean value and might be the beneficial genotype. * T12495C SNP is a synonymous mutation. It showed two genotypes named PP and BP. Theχ~2 test showed that, genotypic distributions in all the population involved agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Analysis of association of polymorphism with body measurement trait at the locus showed that there were significant effects on BL, BH and HH, (P<0.05) in the Qc cattle population. PB had the higher mean value for all the traits involved and might be the favorable genotype.These results suggest that GDF10 gene might have potential effects on body measurement traits in the above mentioned cattle populations and could be used for marker-assisted selection.