Detection of candidate polymorphisms for beef marbling based on whole-genome resequencing data

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K05945
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 42010:Animal production science-related
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: Sasazaki Shinji 神戸大学, 農学研究科, 准教授 (50457115)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 万年 英之 神戸大学, 農学研究科, 教授 (20263395) ; 大山 憲二 神戸大学, 農学研究科, 教授 (70322203)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 和牛 / 脂肪交雑 / 遺伝子 / ゲノムリシーケンス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify the genomic region associated with beef marbling, and detected a candidate in BTA7 at 10-30 Mbp. Next, we comprehensively detected all polymorphisms in the candidate region using whole-genome resequencing data. Based on whole-genome resequencing of eight animals, we detected 127,090 polymorphisms within the region. Of these, 31,945 were located within the genes. We further narrowed the polymorphisms to 6,044 of 179 genes based on allele differences between the high and low marbling groups. We subsequently investigated the functions of these genes and selected 170 polymorphisms in eight genes as possible candidate polymorphisms. We focused on SLC27A6 K81M as a putative candidate polymorphism. We genotyped the SNP in a Japanese Black population (n = 904) to investigate the effect on marbling. Analysis of variance revealed that SLC27A6 K81M had a lower p-value (p = 0.0009) than the most significant SNP in GWAS (p = 0.0049).

Free Research Field

動物遺伝育種学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

和牛の脂肪交雑を支配する遺伝子および遺伝子変異を同定するべく、これまでに国内外を問わず多くの研究がなされてきたが、脂肪交雑を支配する主要な責任遺伝子および変異は未だ解明されていない。本研究の結果、７番染色体の当該領域に脂肪交雑の有力なQTLが存在し、SLC27A6遺伝子のK81M多型は兵庫県集団においては非常に有力なマーカーとなることが示された。以上、我が国を代表する黒毛和種の象徴である脂肪交雑についてその遺伝的要因の解明、および脂肪交雑をコントロールすることのできるDNAマーカーの開発に向けて、本研究の結果は有益な情報となりえると考えられる。