Open AccessGenome-wide Association Study Identifies Loci for the Polled Phenotype in Yak
Author(s) -
Chunnian Liang,
Lizhong Wang,
Xiaoyun Wu,
Kun Wang,
Xuezhi Ding,
Mingcheng Wang,
Min Chen,
Xiaofeng Xie,
Qiang Qiu,
Ping Yan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0158642
Subject(s) - biology , polling , genetics , phenotype , genome wide association study , trait , locus (genetics) , yak , genome , gene , genetic association , computational biology , evolutionary biology , single nucleotide polymorphism , genotype , computer science , zoology , programming language , operating system
The absence of horns, known as the polled phenotype, is an economically important trait in modern yak husbandry, but the genomic structure and genetic basis of this phenotype have yet to be discovered. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study with a panel of 10 horned and 10 polled yaks using whole genome sequencing. We mapped the POLLED locus to a 200-kb interval, which comprises three protein-coding genes. Further characterization of the candidate region showed recent artificial selection signals resulting from the breeding process. We suggest that expressional variations rather than structural variations in protein probably contribute to the polled phenotype. Our results not only represent the first and important step in establishing the genomic structure of the polled region in yak, but also add to our understanding of the polled trait in bovid species.