Molecular Marker-Assisted Selection of ABCG2, CD44, SPP1 Genes Contribute to Milk Production Traits of Chinese Holstein

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Chinese Holstein cattle are the main breed of dairy cows in China. This work performed an association analysis between polymorphisms of three candidate genes (ABCG2, CD44, SPP1) and milk production performance on Chinese Holstein cattle. The results showed that the different genotypes of these 10 SNPs from the ABCG2, CD44, and SPP1 genes significantly affected the milk production performance of Chinese Holstein cattle in terms of milk yield, milk fat percentage, milk protein percentage, somatic cell score, and urea nitrogen content. The ABCG2, CD44, and SPP1 genes could be selected for marker-assisted selection, which is of great significance for future precise molecular breeding. ABSTRACT: Based on our results of genome-wide association analysis, we performed gene ontology (GO) annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis; three candidate genes (ABCG2, CD44, SPP1) were screened in this study for SNPs association analysis with production traits in 999 Holstein cattle. In this research, flight mass spectrometry genotyping was used to detect the polymorphism of SNP seats. It was shown that four, four, and two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) loci were detected for the ABCG2, CD44, and SPP1 genes, respectively, and the different genotypes of these 10 SNPs significantly affected the milk production performance of Chinese Holstein cattle in terms of milk yield, milk fat percentage, milk protein percentage, somatic cell score, and urea nitrogen content. Among them, ABCG2-G.80952G > T locus, ABCG2-G.120017G > A locus and CD44-G.2294G > C locus had significant effects on somatic cell score (p < 0.01). Cows with GG genotypes at ABCG2-G.80952G > T locus, AA and GG genotypes at ABCG2-G.120017G > A locus, and GG genotypes at CD44-G.2294G > C locus had lower somatic cell scores. The present study elucidated that ABCG2, CD44, and SPP1 could be selected for marker-assisted selection and will benefit for future precise molecular breeding.