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A genome‐wide association study for racing performances in Thoroughbreds clarifies a candidate region near the MSTN gene
Author(s) -
Tozaki T.,
Miyake T.,
Kakoi H.,
Gawahara H.,
Sugita S.,
Hasegawa T.,
Ishida N.,
Hirota K.,
Nakano Y.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
animal genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2052
pISSN - 0268-9146
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2010.02095.x
Subject(s) - genome wide association study , biology , single nucleotide polymorphism , linkage disequilibrium , genetics , candidate gene , heritability , genetic association , snp , haplotype , microsatellite , quantitative trait locus , gene , allele , genotype
Summary Using 1400 microsatellites, a genome‐wide association study (GWAS) was performed to identify genomic regions associated with lifetime earnings and performance ranks, as determined by the Japan Racing Association (JRA). The minimum heritability ( h 2 ) was estimated at 7–8% based on the quantitative trait model, suggesting that the racing performance is heritable. Following GWAS with microsatellites, fine mapping led to identification of three SNPs on ECA18, namely, g.65809482T>C ( P = 1.05E‐18), g.65868604G>T ( P = 6.47E‐17), and g.66539967A>G ( P = 3.35E‐14) associated with these performance measures. The haplotype of these SNPs, together with a recently published nearby SNP, g.66493737C>T ( P = 9.06E‐16) in strong linkage disequilibrium, also showed a very clear association with the performance ( P < 1E‐05). The candidate genomic region contained eight genes annotated by ENSEMBL, including the myostatin gene ( MSTN ). These findings suggest the presence of a gene affecting the racing performance in Thoroughbred racehorses in this region on ECA18.