Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) allow identifying genomic regions related to traits of economic importance in animals of zootechnical interest.
Objective: To conduct a genome-wide association study on muscle growth traits using Illumina OvineSNPs50 BeadChip array.
Methods: We analyzed SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) data to conduct a GWAS for pH and water-holding capacity (WHC) traits in the Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle in 167 Creole hair sheep of 12 months old belonging to Pelibuey (CHSP, n=60), Ethiopian (CHSE, n=44), and Sudan (CHSS, n=63) breeds. We measured pH and WHC after seven days of maturation. Genotype data were obtained from an Illumina OvineSNP50 BeadChip array. The GWAS was done using a mixed linear model (MLMA) and based on the Ovis aries v3.1 genome.
Results: CHSE showed the lowest meat juice release and, consequently, the highest water-holding capacity (WHC=30.6±0.1), suggesting that this breed has better performance in the meat industry compared with CHSS (WHC=41.7±0.1) and CHSP (WHC=36.8±0.1). We obtained 11 candidate genes associated with WHC (ELOVL2, ARAP2, LOC101102527, SHOC2, AIPL1, CSRNP3, IFRD, KDM8, NANS, DAPK1, IBN2, TPM2 ). Particularly, ELOVL2, ARAP2, IBN2, and TPM2 genes are involved in muscle contraction and fatty acid composition in sheep.
Conclusion: In this study, we generated a baseline for GWAS related to meat quality traits in Colombian Creole hair sheep, that can be used for future genomic selection plans.
