Associations of MYH3 gene copy number variations with transcriptional expression and growth traits in Chinese cattle

Yao Xu; Tao Shi; Hanfang Cai; Yang Zhou; Xianyong Lan; Chunlei Zhang; Chuzhao Lei; Xinglei Qi; Hong Chen

doi:10.1016/j.gene.2013.11.057

Associations of MYH3 gene copy number variations with transcriptional expression and growth traits in Chinese cattle

Gene. 2014 Feb 10;535(2):106-11. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2013.11.057. Epub 2013 Dec 6.

Authors

Yao Xu¹, Tao Shi¹, Hanfang Cai¹, Yang Zhou¹, Xianyong Lan¹, Chunlei Zhang², Chuzhao Lei¹, Xinglei Qi³, Hong Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A & F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
² Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, China.
³ Bureau of Animal Husbandry of Biyang County, Biyang, Henan 463700, China.
⁴ College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A & F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China. Electronic address: chenhong1212@263.net.

PMID: 24316128
DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2013.11.057

Abstract

Copy number variations (CNVs) have been recently recognized as another important genetic variability complementary to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Compelling evidence has indicated that CNVs are responsible for phenotypic traits by changing the copy numbers of functional genes. Myosin heavy chain 3 (MYH3) gene is a critical regulatory factor in skeletal muscle development, and has been detected in the CNVs region by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) array. This study was conducted to validate and detect the distribution of MYH3 copy numbers (relative to Angus cattle) in four Chinese cattle breeds (NY, QC, LX, and CY), and further to investigate the associations of the copy number changes with its transcriptional expression and cattle growth traits. Substantial genetic differences of MYH3 copy numbers were identified between NY and the other three breeds (P<0.01). The copy numbers of MYH3 gene presented the positive correlations with the transcript level of MYH3 gene in both fetal and adult skeletal muscles (P<0.05). Statistical analysis revealed that CNVs of MYH3 gene were significantly associated with growth traits of NY cattle, and the individuals with copy number gain showed better phenotypes than the loss and/or median groups (P<0.05). This study firstly attempted to establish the correlations between CNVs of candidate genes and growth traits, and our results suggested that the CNVs of MYH3 gene may be utilized as the potential markers for economic traits in selection breeding programs of Chinese cattle.

Keywords: Association; BTF3; CGH; CNVs; CY; Cattle; Chinese Caoyuan cattle; Copy number variations; Ct; GAPDH; Growth traits; LX; Luxi cattle; MYH1; MYH3; MYH3 gene; NY; Nanyang cattle; PP1; PP2; QC; Qinchuan cattle; SD; SNPs; basic transcription factor 3; comparative genomic hybridization; copy number variations; cycle thresholds; glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; myosin heavy chain 1; myosin heavy chain 3; primer pair 1; primer pair 2; qPCR; quantitative real-time PCR; single nucleotide polymorphisms; standard deviation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Age Factors
Animals
Cattle
Comparative Genomic Hybridization
DNA Copy Number Variations*
Female
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation*
Myosin Heavy Chains / genetics*
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Quantitative Trait, Heritable*
Transcription, Genetic*

Substances

Myosin Heavy Chains