Novel SNPs in IL-17F and IL-17A genes associated with somatic cell count in Chinese Holstein and Inner-Mongolia Sanhe cattle

BACKGROUND: Bovine mastitis is the most common and costly disease of lactating cattle worldwide. Apart from milk somatic cell count (SCC) and somatic cell score (SCS), serum cytokines such as interleukin-17 (IL-17) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) may also be potential indicators for bovine mastitis. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in bovine IL-17F and IL-17A genes on SCC, SCS and serum cytokines in Chinese Holstein and Inner-Mongolia Sanhe cattle, and to compare the mRNA expression variations of the cows with different genotypes. RESULTS: A total of 464 lactating cows (337 Holstein and 127 Inner-Mongolia Sanhe cattle) were screened for SNPs identification and the data were analyzed using fixed effects of herd, parity, season and year of calving by general linear model procedure. The results revealed that SNP g.24392436C > T in IL-17F and SNP g.24345410A > G in IL-17A showed significant effects on SCC and IL-4 in Holstein (n = 337) and on IL-17 and IL-4 in Sanhe cattle (n = 127). The homozygous GG genotype of SNP g.24345410A > G had significantly higher mRNA expression compared with the heterozygous AG genotype. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that IL-17F and IL-17A could be powerful candidate genes of mastitis resistance and the significant SNPs might be useful genetic markers against mastitis in both dairy and dual purpose cattle. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40104-016-0137-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.