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Effects of DGAT1 gene on meat and carcass fatness quality in Chinese commercial cattle

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Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the exon’s region of bovine diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase (DGAT1) gene using bioinformatics and experimental methods. A total of 17 SNPs were screened from public data resources and DNA sequencing. Three SNPs (c.572A>G, c.1241C>T and c.1416T>G) of these candidate SNPs were genotyped by created restriction site-polymerase chain reaction (CRS-PCR) methods. The gene-specific SNP markers and their effects on meat and carcass fatness quality traits were evaluated in Chinese commercial cattle. The c.572A>G and c.1416T>G significantly effected on backfat thickness, longissimus muscle area, marbling score, fat color and Warner-Bratzler shear force. No significant association was detected between the c.1241C>T and measured traits. Results from this study suggested that the SNP markers may be effective for the marker-assisted selection of meat and carcass fatness quality traits, and added new evidence that DGAT1 gene is an important candidate gene for the improvement of meat and carcass fatness quality in beef cattle industry.

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Acknowledgments

The study was financially supported by the earmarked fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (CARS-38), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30871774, 31272428, 31201768), the New Variety of Transgenic Organism Great Breeding Program (2008ZX08007-002, 2009ZX08007-005B and 2009ZX08009-157B), the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” National Science and Technology Support Project (2011BAD28B04) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (2012M510011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Zhengrong Yuan

  2. Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Bovine Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Zhengrong Yuan, Junya Li, Jiao Li, Xue Gao, Huijiang Gao & Shangzhong Xu

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  1. Zhengrong Yuan
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  2. Junya Li
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Correspondence to Shangzhong Xu.

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Yuan, Z., Li, J., Li, J. et al. Effects of DGAT1 gene on meat and carcass fatness quality in Chinese commercial cattle. Mol Biol Rep 40, 1947–1954 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-2251-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-2251-2

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