Polymorphism in the A2M gene associated with high-quality milk in Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis).

The study of genes associated with host defense mechanisms, such as the A2M gene, plays a critical role in preventing diseases that reduce milk yield and its constituents. The aim of this study was to identify polymorphisms in the A2M gene in Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), and investigate their associations with milk yield, fat and protein production, fat and protein percentages, and somatic cell count. Hair follicle samples of 136 animals were collected for DNA extraction, and polymorphisms were identified by polymerase chain reactions and sequencing. Statistical analyses were performed to ascertain the allelic and genotypic frequencies, the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and association analysis was conducted between the polymorphisms and the traits studied. Comparative analysis between buffalo and bovine sequences revealed seven nucleotide substitutions. Alignments among the buffalo sequences identified three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), including one in exon 29, g.241A>G, which was used in subsequent statistical analyses. A Hardy-Weinberg test indicated that this SNP was in equilibrium in this population, and was significantly associated (P < 0.05) with fat production and fat and protein percentages. Therefore, this SNP can be used as a molecular marker for these traits.

Genetic-Quantitative Study of the First-Service Pregnancy Probability of Murrah Heifers.

Because of the importance of reproduction in stock breeding systems, it is necessary to find selection criteria that increase reproductive efficiency. The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for the probability of conception on first service (PROB) in Murrah heifers, and its association with other traits of economic interest [age at first calving (AFC), service period, calving interval and milk yield at 270 days], with the purpose of evaluating their use as selection criteria. Reproductive information and first lactation records of 1200 Murrah heifers were used to perform two-trait analyses between PROB and the other characteristics. Bayesian inference was used to estimate the variance components, considering PROB as threshold and the other as linear factors. The results demonstrate that this trait has heritability of 0.15, indicating the possibility of a genetic gain by using it for selection. With respect to the genetic correlation estimates, the only high-magnitude association was with AFC (-0.899), which is the current criterion indicating sexual precocity of females. In the light of the parameters estimated, the first-service pregnancy rate is an alternative for indication of sexual precocity, although presenting a smaller genetic gain than the current standard AFC. Nevertheless, additional research should be conducted regarding this trait to assess the economic importance of its use in dairy buffalo production systems.

Short communication: Variable number of tandem repeat polymorphisms in DGAT1 gene of buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) is associated with milk constituents.

The diacylglycerol-O-transferase 1 gene is a positional and functional candidate for milk composition traits. The objective of this study was to evaluate the segregation of the variable number of tandem repeat polymorphisms in the regulatory region of diacylglycerol-O-transferase 1 gene in a water buffalo herd, and to assess the association of this mutation with milk production traits. For this purpose, 196 Murrah buffalo cows were genotyped by PCR. The association of the marker with total milk, fat, and protein yields at 305 d of lactation, milk fat and protein percentage, and somatic cell scores were evaluated by single-trait analyses using a generalized mixed model. Two segregating alleles were identified in the population. The allele with 2 repeats affected fat percentage favorably. The present results suggest that this polymorphism is an interesting marker to include in the genetic evaluation of buffaloes.

Multiple-trait genomic evaluation for milk yield and milk quality traits using genomic and phenotypic data in buffalo in Brazil.

The objective of this study was to compare the multi-trait model using pedigree information and a model using genomic information in addition to pedigree information. We used data from 5896 lactations of 2021 buffalo cows, of which 384 were genotyped using the Illumina Infinium(®) bovine HD BeadChip, considering seven traits related to milk yield (MY305), fat (FY305), protein (PY305), and lactose (LY305), percentages of fat (%F) and protein (%P), and somatic cell score (SCS). We carried out two analyses, one using phenotype and pedigree information (matrix A) and the other using the relationship matrix based on pedigree and genomics information (a single step, matrix H). The (co)variance components were estimated using multiple-trait analysis by the Bayesian inference method. The model included the fixed effects of contemporary groups (herd-year and calving season), and the age of cow at calving as (co)variables (quadratic and linear effect). The additive genetic, permanent environmental, and residual effects were included as random effects in the model. The estimates of heritability using matrix A were 0.25, 0.22, 0.26, 0.25, 0.37, 0.42, and 0.17, while using matrix H the heritability values were 0.25, 0.24, 0.26, 0.26, 0.38, 0.47, and 0.18 for MY305, FY305, PY305, LY305, %F, %P, and SCS, respectively. The estimates of breeding values in the two analyses were similar for the traits studied, but the accuracies were greater when using matrix H (higher than 8% in the traits studied). Therefore, the use of genomic information in the analyses improved the accuracy.

Estimates of genetic parameters for total milk yield over multiple ages in Brazilian Murrah buffaloes using different models.

The objective of this study was to estimate variance components and genetic parameters for accumulated 305-day milk yield (MY305) over multiple ages, from 24 to 120 months of age, applying random regression (RRM), repeatability (REP) and multi-trait (MT) models. A total of 4472 lactation records from 1882 buffaloes of the Murrah breed were utilized. The contemporary group (herd-year-calving season) and number of milkings (two levels) were considered as fixed effects in all models. For REP and RRM, additive genetic, permanent environmental and residual effects were included as random effects. MT considered the same random effects as did REP and RRM with the exception of permanent environmental effect. Residual variances were modeled by a step function with 1, 4, and 6 classes. The heritabilities estimated with RRM increased with age, ranging from 0.19 to 0.34, and were slightly higher than that obtained with the REP model. For the MT model, heritability estimates ranged from 0.20 (37 months of age) to 0.32 (94 months of age). The genetic correlation estimates for MY305 obtained by RRM (L23.res4) and MT models were very similar, and varied from 0.77 to 0.99 and from 0.77 to 0.99, respectively. The rank correlation between breeding values for MY305 at different ages predicted by REP, MT, and RRM were high. It seems that a linear and quadratic Legendre polynomial to model the additive genetic and animal permanent environmental effects, respectively, may be sufficient to explain more parsimoniously the changes in MY305 genetic variation with age.