This study was performed to expose the polymorphisms of the growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor gene in Chinese Dabieshan cattle, evaluate its effect on body conformation traits, and find potential molecular markers in Chinese cattle. The
GHRHR structure and the phylogenetic tree were analyzed
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This study was performed to expose the polymorphisms of the growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor gene in Chinese Dabieshan cattle, evaluate its effect on body conformation traits, and find potential molecular markers in Chinese cattle. The
GHRHR structure and the phylogenetic tree were analyzed using bioinformatics software. The polymorphism of the
GHRHR gene in 486 female cattle was genotyped by PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing, and the association between SNPs and body conformation traits of Chinese Dabieshan cattle was analyzed by one-way ANOVA in SPSS software.
GHRHR was often conserved in nine species, and its sequence of cattle was closest to sheep and goats. Six polymorphic SNPs were identified, g.10667A > C and g.10670A > C were missense mutation. The association analysis indicated that the six SNPs significantly influenced the body conformation traits of Chinese Dabieshan cattle (
p < 0.05). Six haplotypes were identified and Hap1 (-CAACGA-) had the highest frequency (36.10%). The Hap3/5 (-GCCCCCGGAAGG-) exhibited a significantly greater wither height (WH), hip height (HH), heart girth (HG), and hip width (HW) (
p < 0.05). Overall, the polymorphisms of
GHRHR affected the body conformation traits of Chinese Dabieshan cattle, and the
GHRHR gene could be used as a molecular marker in Dabieshan cattle breeding programs.
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