Journal Article

Weighted single-step GWAS identified candidate genes associated with semen traits in a Duroc boar population

Gao, Ning, Zhu, Lin, Chen, Yilong, Peng, Xing, Liu, Xiaohong, Jiang, Wei, Li, Xinyun, Chen, Yaosheng, Liu, Ali, Tang, Zhenshuang, Zhao, Yunxiang, Zhang, Conglin

2019

Overview

Background In the pig production industry, artificial insemination (AI) plays an important role in enlarging the beneficial impact of elite boars. Understanding the genetic architecture and detecting genetic markers associated with semen traits can help in improving genetic selection for such traits and accelerate genetic progress. In this study, we utilized a weighted single-step genome-wide association study (wssGWAS) procedure to detect genetic regions and further candidate genes associated with semen traits in a Duroc boar population. Overall, the full pedigree consists of 5284 pigs (12 generations), of which 2693 boars have semen data (143,113 ejaculations) and 1733 pigs were genotyped with 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Results Results show that the most significant genetic regions (0.4 Mb windows) explained approximately 2%~ 6% of the total genetic variances for the studied traits. Totally, the identified significant windows (windows explaining more than 1% of total genetic variances) explained 28.29, 35.31, 41.98, and 20.60% of genetic variances (not phenotypic variance) for number of sperm cells, sperm motility, sperm progressive motility, and total morphological abnormalities, respectively. Several genes that have been previously reported to be associated with mammal spermiogenesis, testes functioning, and male fertility were detected and treated as candidate genes for the traits of interest: Number of sperm cells, TDRD5 , QSOX1 , BLK , TIMP3 , THRA , CSF3 , and ZPBP1 ; Sperm motility, PPP2R2B , NEK2 , NDRG , ADAM7 , SKP2 , and RNASET2 ; Sperm progressive motility, SH2B1 , BLK , LAMB1 , VPS4A , SPAG9 , LCN2, and DNM1 ; Total morphological abnormalities, GHR , SELENOP , SLC16A5 , SLC9A3R1 , and DNAI2 . Conclusions In conclusion, candidate genes associated with Duroc boars’ semen traits, including the number of sperm cells, sperm motility, sperm progressive motility, and total morphological abnormalities, were identified using wssGWAS. KEGG and GO enrichment analysis indicate that the identified candidate genes were enriched in biological processes and functional terms may be involved into spermiogenesis, testes functioning, and male fertility.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,BMC
• Subject: Animal Genetics and Genomics / Animals / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Candidate genes / Duroc pigs / Genes / Genetic aspects / Genetic markers / Genetic polymorphisms / Genetic research / Genetic Variation / Genome-wide association studies / Genome-Wide Association Study / Genomes / Genomics / Human and rodent genomics / Laminin / Life Sciences / Microarrays / Microbial Genetics and Genomics / Physiological aspects / Plant Genetics and Genomics / Pork industry / Proteomics / Quantitative Trait Loci / Research Article / Semen / Semen traits / Single nucleotide polymorphisms / Sperm / Sperm motility / Sus scrofa - genetics / Swine / Weighted single-step GWAS