| Summary: | Behavior is a complex trait and, therefore, understanding its genetic architecture is paramount for the development of effective breeding strategies. The objective of this study was to perform traditional and weighted single-step genome-wide association studies (ssGWAS and WssGWAS, respectively) for yearling temperament (YT) in North American Angus cattle using haplotypes. Approximately 266 K YT records and 70 K animals genotyped using a 50 K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) panel were used. Linkage disequilibrium thresholds (LD) of 0.15, 0.50, and 0.80 were used to create the haploblocks, and the inclusion of non-LD-clustered SNPs (NCSNP) with the haplotypes in the genomic models was also evaluated. WssGWAS did not perform better than ssGWAS. Cattle YT was found to be a highly polygenic trait, with genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL) broadly distributed across the whole genome. Association studies using LD-based haplotypes should include NCSNPs and different LD thresholds to increase the likelihood of finding the relevant genomic regions affecting the trait of interest. The main candidate genes identified, i.e., <i>ATXN10</i>, <i>ADAM10</i>, <i>VAX2</i>, <i>ATP6V1B1</i>, <i>CRISPLD1</i>, <i>CAPRIN1</i>, <i>FA2H</i>, <i>SPEF2</i>, <i>PLXNA1</i>, and <i>CACNA2D3</i>, are involved in important biological processes and metabolic pathways related to behavioral traits, social interactions, and aggressiveness in cattle. Future studies should further investigate the role of these candidate genes.
|
|---|