Genetic polymorphisms in immune- and inflammation-associated genes and their association with bovine mastitis resistance/susceptibility

Front Immunol. 2023 Feb 23:14:1082144. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1082144. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Bovine mastitis, the inflammation of the mammary gland, is a contagious disease characterized by chemical and physical changes in milk and pathological changes in udder tissues. Depressed immunity and higher expression of inflammatory cytokines with an elevated milk somatic cell count can be observed during mastitis in dairy cattle. The use of somatic cell count (SCC) and somatic cell score (SCS) as correlated traits in the indirect selection of animals against mastitis resistance is in progress globally. Traditional breeding for mastitis resistance seems difficult because of the low heritability (0.10-0.16) of SCC/SCS and clinical mastitis. Thus, genetic-marker-selective breeding to improve host genetics has attracted considerable attention worldwide. Moreover, genomic selection has been found to be an effective and fast method of screening for dairy cattle that are genetically resistant and susceptible to mastitis at a very early age. The current review discusses and summarizes the candidate gene approach using polymorphisms in immune- and inflammation-linked genes (CD4, CD14, CD46, TRAPPC9, JAK2, Tf, Lf, TLRs, CXCL8, CXCR1, CXCR2, C4A, C5, MASP2, MBL1, MBL2, LBP, NCF1, NCF4, MASP2, A2M, and CLU, etc.) and their related signaling pathways (Staphylococcus aureus infection signaling, Toll-like receptor signaling, NF-kappa B signaling pathway, Cytokine-cytokine receptor, and Complement and coagulation cascades, etc.) associated with mastitis resistance and susceptibility phenotypic traits (IL-6, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), IL17, IL8, SCS, and SCC) in dairy cattle.

Keywords: SCC; SCS; bovine mastitis; genetic markers; immunity and inflammation; inflammatory cytokines; polymorphisms.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Inflammation
  • Mannose-Binding Lectin* / genetics
  • Mastitis, Bovine*
  • Milk / chemistry
  • Polymorphism, Genetic

Substances

  • MBL2 protein, human
  • Mannose-Binding Lectin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the grants from National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFF1000703-03), the 2115 Talent Development Program of China Agricultural University (2115) and the Key Research and Development Program of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (2022BBF02018-01). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.