Detection of signatures of selective sweeps in the Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle breed.

TitleDetection of signatures of selective sweeps in the Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle breed.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsBoitard, S, Rocha, D
JournalAnim Genet
Volume44
Issue5
Pagination579-83
Date Published2013 Aug
ISSN1365-2052
KeywordsAnimals, Cattle, Genetic Markers, Markov Chains, Myostatin, Quantitative Trait Loci
Abstract

Identifying recent positive selection signatures in domesticated animals could provide information on genome response to strong directional selection from domestication and artificial selection and therefore could help in identifying mutations responsible for improved traits. We used genotyping data generated using Illumina's BovineSNP50 Genotyping BeadChips to identify selection signatures in the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed, a well-muscled French beef breed. For this purpose, we employed a hidden Markov model-based test, which detects selection by studying local variations in the allele frequency spectrum along the genome, within a single population. Three regions containing selective sweeps were identified. Annotation of genes located within these regions revealed interesting candidate genes. For example, myostatin (also known as GDF8), a known muscle growth factor inhibitor, is located within the selection signature region found on chromosome 2. In addition, we have identified chromosomal regions that show some evidence of selection within QTL regions for economically important traits. The results of this study could help to better understand the mechanisms related to the selection of the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed.

DOI10.1111/age.12042
Alternate JournalAnim. Genet.
PubMed ID23647053