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CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α (C/EBPα) plays an important role in lipid deposition and adipocyte differentiation. In order to find genetic markers to improve the meat quality of Korean cattle, the bovine C/EBPα gene was chosen as a candidate gene to investigate its association with carcass and meat quality traits in Korean cattle. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was identified at position 271 (A/C substitution) of coding region in the C/EBPα gene. A PCR-RFLP procedure with restriction enzyme SmaI was developed for determining the marker genotypes. The frequencies of alleles C and A and were 0.374 and 0.626, respectively. The genotype frequencies for CC, AC and AA were 12.9, 49.0 and 38.1%, respectively, in Korean cattle population. The frequencies of genotype were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Association analysis indicated that the gene-specific SNP marker of C/EBPα showed a significant association with marbling score (p<0.05). The animals with AA genotype had higher marbling score than those with the AC or CC genotype. Although further studies are needed to validate our results, the C/EBPα gene could be useful as a genetic marker for carcass and meat quality traits in Korean cattle.

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Genetic analysis of the hair-length of Sapsaree dogs, a Korean native dog breed, showed a dominant mode of inheritance for long hair. Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) analysis and subsequent Mendelian segregation analysis revealed an association between OXR1, RSPO2, and PKHD1L1 on chromosome 13 (CFA13). We identified the previously reported 167 bp insertion in RSPO2 3’ untranslated region as a causative mutation for hair length variations. The analysis of 118 dog breeds and wolves revealed the selection signature on CFA13 in long-haired breeds. Haplotype analysis showed the association of only a few specific haplotypes to the breeds carrying the 167 bp insertion. The genetic diversity in the neighboring region linked to the insertion was higher in Sapsarees than in other Asian and European dog breeds carrying the same variation, suggesting an older history of its insertion in the Sapsaree genome than in that of the other breeds analyzed in this study. Our results show that the RSPO2 3’ UTR insertion is responsible for not only the furnishing phenotype but also determining the hair length of the entire body depending on the genetic background, suggesting an epistatic interaction between FGF5 and RSPO2 influencing the hair-length phenotype in dogs.