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VISFATIN is an adipose cytokine that has been proved to correlate with growth and development traits. In a previous study from our lab, two insertion/deletions (indels; including a 35-bp insertion at its intron 4 and a 6-bp deletion in intron 5) were identified within the VISFATIN gene. To validate these indels and evaluate their association with growth traits in Chinese cattle, a total of 413 samples from four Chinese indigenous breeds and 217 samples from Chinese breeds were detected. Three genotypes (WW, WI and II) at intron 4 were detected based on the 35-bp insertion (allele I) or deletion (allele W) and showed moderate polymorphism in all samples. Two genotypes (WW and WD) at intron 5 were detected based on the 6-bp deletion (allele D) or insertion (allele W) in Xianan (XN) cattle and Jinnan (JN) cattle population but showed poor polymorphisms. Association analysis illustrated that the indel at intron 4 is significantly associated with chest girth, rump length and body weight in Ji'an (JA) cattle and the indel at intron 5 can cause a significant difference in rump length in JN cattle. To our knowledge, it is the first time it has been shown that indels within the VISFATIN gene are associated with growth traits in the two Chinese indigenous cattle breeds. These findings suggest that the VISFATIN gene can be used as a molecular marker for JN and JA cattle breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copy number variation (CNV) is a type of genomic structural variation, and the research on it has flourished in recent years. According to the high-throughput sequencing data, we found that the copy number variation region of the GAL3ST1 gene was correlated with the growth traits of bovine. It is significant that we study the CNV of GAL3ST1 gene and process the association analysis between results of Q-PCR and growth traits of Chinese cattle. In this research, SPSS software was used to detect the distribution of GAL3ST1 gene copy number in four cattle breeds and the correlation of growth traits was analyzed. Correlation analysis showed that GAL3ST1 CNV had positive effects on some growth traits of bovine (p < 0.05). In addition, the study detects the expression of GAL3ST1 gene in different tissues of Xia'nan cattles on mRNA level. The result showed that GAL3ST1 gene has different expression conditions in different tissues, results showed that the expression level was high in intestine and low in liver tissue. In a word, we speculated that the GAL3ST1 gene can be used as a molecular marker and this study confirmed that the CNV of it can provide theoretical basis for molecular breeding of cattle in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that the SREBP1c gene is an important gene responsible for adipogenesis and regulation of the expression of genes controlling fatty acid biosynthesis. Its expression levels increase in parallel with obesity. Therefore, the present study focused on screening the genetic variation within bovine SREBP1c gene and analyzing its effect on growth traits in 1035 individuals belonging to four Chinese cattle breeds (QC, NY, JX, CH) using PCR-SSCP, DNA sequencing, and forced PCR-RFLP methods. The results revealed two novel mutations: NC_007317: g. 10781 C > A (457aa), 10914 G > A (502aa). Association analysis with growth traits in the Nangyang breed indicated that: The SNPs in the bovine SREBP1c gene had significant effects on body weight and average daily gain at birth, 6 and 12 months old (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Therefore, these results suggest that the SREBP1c gene is a strong candidate gene that affects growth traits in cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]