Variants of the bovine retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor C gene are in linkage disequilibrium with QTL for milk production traits on chromosome 3 in a beef × dairy crossbreed population

Abstract

The bovine retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor C gene (RORC) is located on bovine chromosome 3 in the vicinity of several QTL for milk production traits, and an association of RORC genetic variants with carcass fatness traits had been confirmed by several studies.In a F 2 resource population, a chromosome-wise QTL and association study with 26 genetic markers (microsatellites and SNPs from genes involved in fat metabolism) on BTA3 was performed. In the analysis, 183 first and 152 second lactation records of 183 cows were included.The QTL study revealed five QTL affecting milk yield (MY), fat percentage (FP) and protein percentage (PP) as well as the milk fat/milk protein ratio (FPR), respectively, in the chromosomal region harbouring the RORC gene. The association study displayed a significant association between RORC c.1138+65A>G and MY and also associations between RORC c.934-262T>G and MY, FP and FPR, respectively. A combined QTL association study showed that these SNPs included as fixed effect in the corresponding model resulted in a prominent drop of the QTL test statistic. For the RORC c.934-262T allele, which had been confirmed to increase intramuscular fat deposition, an increasing effect on milk fat content traits was detected. The RORC c.1138+65G allele that had been shown to positively affect rump fat thickness, was associated with increased MY in our study. In conclusion, we found indications that the RORC SNPs, which previously had been highlighted due to their effects on carcass fat deposition, are also associated with milk production traits.

Biological Network Approach for the Identification of Regulatory Long Non-Coding RNAs Associated With Metabolic Efficiency in Cattle

“…Although not meeting the threshold for entering the PCIT network with respect to correlation to MSTRG.10337, we found APOA1 to be DE in the liver, providing consistency in gene expression and biological interplay with regard to RORA . Previously, Krappmann et al (2012) has attested an association of a RORC ( RAR Related Orphan Receptor C ) variant with milk yield, as well as milk fat and protein percentage in our SEGFAM resource population. Furthermore, Zhang et al (2017) linked both nuclear receptors RORA and RORC to hepatic lipid and fatty acid metabolism as well as circadian rhythm pathways in a liver-specific depletion experiment in mice.…”

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“…The improvement of the productive qualities of beef cattle in general, and the Kazakh whiteheaded breed, in particular, at the present stage involves the use of molecular DNA markers along with the methods of classical breeding because genotyping allows one to assess the genotype of animals and determine their breeding value at the earliest age [14][15][16]. The most promising genetic markers for beef cattle breeding are myostatin -MSTN [17,18], calpain -CAPN, calpastatin -CAST [14,15], leptin -LEP [21,22], retinoic acid receptor -RORC-C [23], and stearoyl-CoA desaturase -SCD [24,25]. One of the lines of development of specialized beef cattle breeding is to obtain high-quality, so-called "marbled" beef by using genetic testing for marker genes [26].…”