Associations of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Bovine <i>FADS</i>6 Gene with Fatty Acid Composition in Hanwoo (Korean Cattle)

Abstract

The bovine fatty acid desaturase (FADS) gene cluster consists of FADS1, FADS2, FADS3, and FADS6, which acts as key enzymes in fatty acid metabolism. Of these, the genetics effects of variants in FADS1, FADS2 and FADS3 have been previously studied. However, the genetic effects of variants of FADS6 gene have not been studied. The aim of this study was to identify genetic variants in the bovine fatty acid desaturase 6 (FADS6) gene and study their association with fatty acid composition in Hanwoo cattle. Six genetic variants were observed, three each in intron 2 and exon 6 by DNA sequencing analyses. The association of genetic variants with fatty acid composition was evaluated in 90 Hanwoo steers. The variants were confirmed and the animals were genotyped by RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) and AS-PCR (Allele Specific PCR) analyses. The analysis revealed that palmitoleic acid (C16:1n7) was associated with g.3391G > A, g.3660A > C and g.15657C > T, and stearic acid (C18:0) showed highly significant association with g.3660A > C segments. Both g.3391G > A, g.3660A > C also had strong additive and dominance effect for Palmitoleic acid, while g.3660A > C also had a strong dominance effect for stearic acid. These results could be useful for modulating fatty acid composition in beef and produce meat with higher monounsaturated fatty acid to saturated fatty acid ratio (MUFA/SFA), which had been shown to have positive health effect in humans.

The 84-bp Indel Polymorphism of The Sterol Regulatory Element-Binding Protein 1 (SREBP1) Gene in Several Cattle Breeds in Indonesia

“…Introns are non-coding sequences and therefore variations in the intronic regions are considered to have less functional significance compared to variations in the exonic regions in determining specific traits. Despite this, some studies have demonstrated an association between variants in the intronic regions of certain genes and the fatty acid composition of both types of meat (Srikanth et al 2015;Otto et al 2022) and milk (Jiang et al 2016;Li et al 2016) in cattle. According to Hoashi et al (2007), the 84-bp indel polymorphism in the intronic region of the SREBP1 gene can directly affect the translation efficiency of the gene, and the presence of insertion of 84 nucleotides is thought to have a regulatory-like function on micro RNA (miRNA) in controlling the expression of genes related to fat quality in cattle.…”

Review of Eukaryote Cellular Membrane Lipid Composition, with Special Attention to the Fatty Acids

“…Generally, FAD enzymes can be categorized into FAD-1, responsible for generating omega-3 (n3) fatty acids; FAD-2, involved in generating omega-x (nx) fatty acids; and FAD-3, which contributes to the formation of omega-6 (n6) fatty acids. While little is known about the substrates of FAD-6 and their major roles have not yet been defined, it appears to be homologous to human FAD-2 [346][347][348] and likely plays a role in the synthesis of polyunsaturated fatty acids.…”