Association analysis between novel polymorphism in A4GALT gene and milk production traits in crossbred cattle of Kerala

Abstract

Alpha 1, 4-Galactosyltransferase (A4GALT) is a protein coding gene which is related to pathways such as pathway of glycosphingolipids biosynthesis and sphingolipid pathway. The A4GALT gene was studied as a candidate gene for milk production and quality traits (305-day milk yield, peak yield, average daily yield, fat per cent and SNF percent) in Crossbred cows of Kerala. According to the sequence of bovine A4GALT gene, primers were designed to detect polymorphisms of A4GALT gene in 180 crossbred cows by High resolution melt curve analysis. Allele frequencies of G and A alleles were 0.28 and 0.72 respectively. The homozygous GG genotype was not identified in the screened population. The genotypes frequencies were heterozygous genotype GA (0.45) and homozygous genotype AA (0.55). The impact of the genotypes of the c.721A>G polymorphism in the A4GALT gene on milk production traits in crossbred animals was studied. The genotypes of c.721A>G polymorphism in A4GALT gene had significant (p≤0.05) influence on 305-day milk yield, peak yield and average daily yield in crossbred animals. The GA genotypes showed significantly superior values for 305-day milk yield, peak yield and average daily yield (p≤0.05) compared to AA genotypes. The association study between genotypes and other traits was shown to be statistically insignificant (p>0.05). The findings indicate that A4GALT can serve as a potential gene for milk production traits.