The myostatin gene (MSTN) in cattle has a number of polymorphisms associated with increased muscle mass. The aim of the current study was to determine the haplotype frequencies of F94L and nt821(del11) MSTN polymorphisms among cattle bred for meat in Russia, using DNA analysis. Using the earlier created test systems based on the AS-PCR and PCR-RFLP methods, six populations of Aberdeen Angus (n = 684), two populations of Limousin (n = 54), one population of Simmental (n = 55), and one population of Belgian Blue (n = 137) belonging to Russian farms were genotyped on nt821(del11) and F94L MSTN polymorphisms. The animal carriers of the mutant allele of nt821(del11) MSTN associated with the double-muscling genetic defect were found in one Aberdeen Angus population at a frequency of 2.18%, but were not found in the Limousin and Simmental populations. However, 100% of the Belgian Blue population were heterozygous carriers of nt821(del11) MSTN. The frequencies of the A allele F94L MSTN desirable for productivity traits in the Limousin populations were the highest and accounted for 0.97 and 1 in populations one and two, while in the Aberdeen Angus, Simmental, and Belgian Blue populations, these figures were considerably lower at 0.04–0.08, depending on the population. The obtained data show the high genetic potential of Russian beef cattle, and facilitate an improvement in meat productivity by preserving the health of animals.

Capped hock affects the exterior of pedigree pigs, making them unsalable and resulting in a negative impact on the efficiency of pig-breeding centers. The purpose of this paper was to carry out pilot studies aimed at finding genomic regions and genes linked to the capped hock in pigs. The studies were carried out on Landrace pigs (n = 75) and Duroc pigs (n = 70). To identify genomic regions linked to capped hock in pigs, we used smoothing FST statistics. Genotyping was performed with GeneSeek® GGP Porcine HD Genomic Profiler v1 (Illumina Inc, San Diego, CA, USA). The research results showed 70 SNPs linked to capped hock in Landrace (38 SNPs) and Duroc (32 SNPs). The identified regions overlapped with QTLs related with health traits (blood parameters) and meat and carcass traits (fatness). In total, 31 genes were identified (i.e., 17 genes in Landrace, 14 genes in Durocs). Three genes appeared in both the Landrace and Duroc groups, including A2ML1 (SSC5), ROBO2 (SSC13), and MSI1 (SSC14). We identified genomic regions directly or indirectly linked to capped hock, which thus might contribute to identifying genetic variants and using them as genetic markers in pig breeding.

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The Sychevskaya breed belongs to local breeds of the combined direction of productivity. The use of the world’s best gene pool of the Holstein and Simmental breeds allows to improve the productive qualities of the livestock, but at the same time it introduces a number of recessive genetic mutations into the gene pool of the Sychevskaya breed. 150 cows of the Vazuzsky type and 34 sires of the Sychevskaya breed were studied. The incidence of hidden carriers of thrombopathia was 1.4±0.009 % among cows and 5.9±0.04 % among breeding bulls. Animals in the cow group belonged to the Aromat 3433 line and other lines, and in the bull group - to the Toreador 3032 line. In the cows group, 12 carriers of subfertility and 6 carriers of cholesterol deficiency were identified, which is 8±0.022 % and 4±0.016 %, respectively. The linear affiliation of animals goes back to the lines of Redad 711620016730 (subfertility), Reflection Sovering 198998 and Klever 68 (HCD). The frequency of occurrence of undesirable alleles in the genotypes of Vazuzsky type cows according to the TMEM95, RASGRP2, and APOB genes was 0.040; 0.067; 0.020, and in the genotype of sires according to RASGRP2 – 0.030.

The study of allele pool condition and genetic diversity of Brown Swiss cattle breed was conducted with using STR-markers. Sample collection included samples (n=347) of five breeds: Russian selection Brown Swiss (BSH1), German selection Brown Swiss (BSH2), Jersey (DJ), Simmental (SIM), Kostromskaya(KOS) and Holstein (HOLSH). Polymorphism of 11 microsatellite loci was studied on 16-channell genetic analyzer ABI3130xl. A total of 393 allales with minimal number in DJ group (54) and maximal in SIM group (84) were founded. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 25 (BM1824) to 50 (TGLA122) and average number of alleles per locus ranged from 4.33 (TGLA126) to 8.33 (TGLA122) with a mean of 5.95. Effective number of alleles per locus varied from 2.88 (DJ) to 3.76 (BSH2). Maximal (4.64) and minimal (3.73) numbers of informative alleles were found in BSH2 and BSH1 groups, respectively. Observed heterozygosity range exceeded 0.70 in all groups, except DJ. A total of 23 private alleles were detected ranged from 0,005 (SIM) to 0,385 (DJ). AMOVA analysis showed that 80.068% of variation was observed within populations while 5.186% of variability was intergroup differences. The population structure analysis showed a high level of belonging of all groups to their own cluster. The FCA method revealed an overlapping of multilocus genotypes of BSH1, BSH2 иKOS groups.  The results we obtained reveal a high level of genetic diversity in Russian population of Brown Swiss cattle breed.