A multilocus GWAS was performed to explore the genetic architecture of four growth traits in yak. In total, 354 female yaks for which measurements of body weight (BW), withers height (WH), body length (BL) and chest girth (CG) at weaning were available underwent genotyping with the Illumina BovineHD BeadChip (770K). After quality control, we retained 98 688 SNPs and 354 animals for GWAS analysis. We identified seven, 18, seven and nine SNPs (corresponding to seven, 17, seven and eight candidate genes) associated with BW, WH, BL and CG at weaning respectively. Interestingly, most of these candidate genes were reported to be involved in growth‐related processes such as muscle formation, lipid deposition, feed efficiency, carcass composition and development of the central and peripheral nervous system. Our results offer novel insight into the molecular architecture underpinning yak growth traits. Further functional analyses are thus warranted to explore the molecular mechanisms whereby these genes affect these traits of interest.

中文翻译：

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通过全基因组关联研究鉴定牛断奶时与生长特性相关的遗传基因座

进行了多基因座GWAS研究以探索牛四个生长性状的遗传结构。共有354头牛在断奶时测量体重（BW），肩高（WH），体长（BL）和胸围（CG）进行了基因分型，使用Illumina BovineHD BeadChip（770K）。经过质量控制，我们保留了98 688个SNP和354只动物用于GWAS分析。我们在断奶时分别确定了与BW，WH，BL和CG相关的7、18、7和9个SNP（分别对应于7、17、7和8个候选基因）。有趣的是，据报道，大多数这些候选基因都参与了与生长相关的过程，例如肌肉形成，脂质沉积，饲料效率，car体组成以及中枢神经系统和周围神经系统的发育。我们的结果为novel牛生长特性的分子结构提供了新颖的见解。因此，需要进行进一步的功能分析，以探索这些基因影响这些目标特征的分子机制。