Mapping of a major gene for bovine ovulation rate

Abstract Text: Ovulation rate was evaluated over an average of four estrous cycles for 131 daughters of a sire suspected to be heterozygous for an allele for high ovulation rate.  Linkage analysis of 3k SNP data revealed strong evidence for segregation of a major gene with a location on bovine chromosome 10.  Haplotype analysis of the sire, recombinant daughters and a subset of non-recombinant daughters using 50k SNP genotype data narrowed the positional candidate region to an area of approximately 1.5 Mb.  Positional candidate genes in the region were screened for polymorphisms in coding and 5' and 3' untranslated gene regions, but no functionally relevant polymorphisms were identified.  Polymorphisms identified in one of the positional candidate genes did however lead to a narrowing of the candidate gene region and exclusion of the gene in question.

Keywords: cattle, genetics, ovulation, twin