Genome-wide CNV analysis reveals variants associated with high-altitude adaptation and meat traits in Qaidam cattle

BACKGROUND Qaidam cattle are local breeds that habitats in northwest China. It has many excellent characteristics, such as high cold and roughage tolerance, low oxygen adaptability, and tender meat quality. Copy number variation (CNV) can induce phenotypic changes in animals by a variety of effects, and thus affects the biological functions of the animals. To explore the molecular mechanism of its adaptation to extreme cold weather and muscle fat development, the CNV variations in the genome of three Qaidam cattle were detected by whole-genome sequencing, in this study. RESULTS : A total of 16,743 CNVs and 9498 copy number variable regions (CNVRs) were obtained after the screening, which accounts for 2.18% of the bovine genome. The CNVR length detected ranged from 0.3 KB to 10.77 KB, with a total length of 58.17 MB and an average length of 6.12 KB/ CNVR. Through functional enrichment of CNVR related genes, LDHB, and ME1 genes were screened as the key genes for Qaidam cattle to adapt to the cold and low oxygen environments, whereas KIT and FGF18 genes might be related to the coat color and growth. In the CNVR overlapped with QTLs, variation in CAPN1 and CAST genes might be closely related to the tender meat quality of Qaidam cattle. CONCLUSIONS Therefore, this study provides new genetic insights on the environmental adaptability and important economic traits of Qaidam cattle

The study of Tibetan ancestry informative SNPs on high-altitude adaptive genes / 中国法医学杂志

Objective Selecting Tibetan ancestry informative SNPs base on high-altitude adaptation genes of Tibetan. Methods We developed a multiplex assay constituted of 87 SNPs located on EPAS1 and EGLN1 genes based on Agena Mas-sARRAY? genotyping system. 183 samples from Tibet plateau were genotyped. The genotypes of 2504 samples from 26 populations were downloaded from the 1000 genomes. Genetic frequency and population structure were analyzed and compared between Tibetan population and worldwide populations. Results SNPs that have distinctive distribution between Tibetan and other populations could be used as Tibetan AISNPs (Ancestry informative SNPs). We selected 23 SNPs has a separated principal genetic component in STRUCTURE result. Conclusion These 23 AISNPs we selected could be combined into ancestry informative SNP panels to improve the resolution of ancestry inference in East Asian, and provide clues for cases of biological material ancestry inference.

Systems biology approach to study the high altitude adaptation in tibetans

The aim of this work was to study an integrative systems biology research strategy to construct a network including the protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) and identify the functional biological processes and pathways for high-altitude adaptation in Tibetans. The pathway enrichment analysis revealed that the genes in the network were mainly involved in signling the pathways and the function of microRNAs was concentrated in the signling pathways, which suggested that miRNAs might contribute to the Tibetans high-altitude adaptation through the participation in signaling pathway. These results contribute to better understanding on the high-altitude adaptation of the Tibetans.