A Capra hircus chromosome 19 locus linked to milk production influences mammary conformation

Background:Economically important milk production traits including milk volume,milk fat and protein yield vary considerably across dairy goats in New Zealand.A significant portion of the variation is attributable to genetic variation.Discovery of genetic markers linked to milk production traits can be utilised to drive selection of highperformance animals.A previously reported genome wide association study across dairy goats in New Zealand identified a quantitative trait locus(QTL)located on chromosome 19.The most significantly associated single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)marker for this locus is located at position 26,610,610(SNP marker rs268292132).This locus is associated with multiple milk production traits including fat,protein and volume.The predicted effect of selection for the beneficial haplotype would result in an average production increase of 2.2 kg fat,1.9 kg protein and 73.6 kg milk yield.An outstanding question was whether selection for the beneficial allele would co-select for any negative pleiotropic effects.An adverse relationship between milk production and udder health traits has been reported at this locus.Therefore,a genome wide association study was undertaken looking for loci associated with udder traits.Results:The QTL and production associated marker rs268292132 was identified in this study to also be associated with several goat udder traits including udder depth(UD),fore udder attachment(FUA)and rear udder attachment(RUA).Our study replicates the negative relationship between production and udder traits with the high production allele at position 19:26,610,610(SNP marker rs268292132)associated with an adverse change in UD,FUA and RUA.Conclusions:Our study has confirmed the negative relationship between udder traits and production traits in the NZ goat population.We have found that the frequency of the high production allele is relatively high in the NZ goat population,indicating that its effect on udder conformation is not significantly detrimental on animal health.It will however be important to monitor udder conformation as the chromosome 19 locus is progressively implemented for marker assisted selection.It will also be of interest to determine if the gene underlying the production QTL has a direct effect on mammary gland morphology or whether the changes observed are a consequence of the increased milk volume.

Switches in transcriptome functions during seven skeletal muscle development stages from fetus to kid in Capra hircus

Skeletal muscle accounts for about 40% of mammalian body weight, the development of which is a dynamic, complex and precisely regulated process that is critical for meat production. We here described the transcriptome expression profile in 21 goat samples collected at 7 growth stages from fetus to kid, including fetal 45(F45), 65(F65), 90(F90), 120(F120), and 135(F135) days, and birth 1(B1) day and 90(B90) days kids. Paraffin sections combined with RNA-seq data of the 7 stages divided the transcriptomic functions of skeletal muscle into 4 states: before F90, F120, F135 and B1, and B90. And the dynamic expression of all 4 793 differentially expressed genes(DEGs) was identified. Furthermore, DEGs were clustered by weighted gene correlation network analysis into 4 modules(turquoise, grey, blue and brown) that corresponded to these 4 states. Functional and pathway analysis indicated that the active genes in the stages before F90(turquoise) were closely related to skeletal muscle proliferation. The DEGs in the F120-related module(grey) were found to participate in the regulation of skeletal muscle structure and skeletal muscle development by regulating t RNA. The brown module(F135 and B1) regulated fatty acid biological processes to maintain the normal development of muscle cells. The DEGs of B90 high correlation module(blue) were involved the strengthening and power of skeletal muscle through the regulation of actin filaments and tropomyosin. Our current data thus revealed the internal functional conversion of the goat skeletal muscle in the growth from fetus to kid. The results provided a theoretical basis for analyzing the involvement of m RNA in skeletal muscle development.

GC-MS Analysis of Amino Acids in Extract of Cornus Caprae Hircus

Amino acids are an important type of bioactive components in Chinese traditional medicines, especially animal drugs. However, few modern analytical methods targeted at amino acids have been developed for the quality control of animal drugs. A gas chromatography-mass spectrometric method was built for the quantification analysis of amino acids in the extracts of Comus Caprae Hircus which has been widely used in Chinese medicine compound prescriptions. The full method validation, including the linearity, limit of detection and quantification, repeatability, precision, stability, and recovery test, was examined. The results indicate that the developed method is suitable for the quantification of amino acids in the extracts of Comus Caprae Hircus. The developed method was applied to the quantification analysis of twelve amino acids in different batches of extracts of Comus Caprae Hircus.

Morphological characterization and habitat suitability modeling of the goat population of Benin under climate change scenarios

Background:Insufficient knowledge of the genetic and phenotypic diversity in the local Beninese goat population combined with the lack of understanding of its adaptive capacity to ongoing environmental and societal changes hampers the development of strategies for better management and genetic improvement.The objective of this study was to establish the current geographical distribution of goats in Benin based on their morphology and model the potential habitat suitability of the three known main goat phenotypes(i.e.,Djallonkégoat or TypeⅠ,Sahelian goat or TypeⅡ,and their Crossbreeds or TypeⅢ)under climate change scenarios.Ten qualitative and 26 linear body measurements were taken on 2114 adult female goats sampled across the three vegetation zones of the country.Fifteen ratios were generated from the quantitative variables.The data were analyzed using generalized linear model procedures followed by multiple comparisons of least-squares means and multivariate analytical methods,including canonical discrimination analysis and hierarchical ascendant classification.Each goat was then assigned to one of the three aforementioned main goat phenotypes following its morphological characteristics and according to the a priori cluster membership defined in the previous step.The Maximum Entropy algorithm was used to model the current and future distribution of the three goat phenotypes under climate change scenario using the Representative Conservation Pathways 4.5 and 8.5.Results:All linear body measurements varied among vegetation zones.In the discriminant function analysis,71%of the measured individuals were correctly classified in their vegetation zone of origin by seven measured variables and three ratios.The cluster procedure analysis revealed two groups of goats subdivided into the three main phenotypes.The modeling results showed that the currently highly favorable habitats were distributed in the South for TypeⅠ,in the North for TypeⅡ,and both South and North for TypeⅢ.However,under climate change scenarios,the favorable habitats for TypeⅠdecreased while those of TypesⅡandⅢincreased.Conclusions:The results of this study confirm the spatial variation of the goat population in Benin.The habitat suitability model can be used to support decision-making toward better management of goat genetic diversity in Benin.