Genomics studies of resistance to bovine Anaplasmosis in Braford animals

• Grant number: 17/21000-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): March 01, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Genetics and Improvement of Domestic Animals
• Principal Investigator: Henrique Nunes de Oliveira
• Grantee: Andrea Renata da Silva Romero
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/07216-7 - Genomic study and immunological characterization of cattle resistant to bovine babesiosis and analysis of the genetic diversity of Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/00412-3 - Estimates of heterozygosity and genetic composition of Braford cattle and their application in a genome-wide association study of characteristic levels of Babesia bigemina infection, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Bovine Anaplasmosis has been implicated in economic losses in beef cattle due to expenses with the treatment of the disease, drop in productive and reproductive performance and the animal death. Considering that the demand for animal protein and the importance of the diseases control such as Anaplasmosis is increasing, the objective of the project will be the application of Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and genomic selection (GS) for the anaplasmosis resistance trait, in Braford cattle. The sample group will be composed of approximately 1000 Braford animals, genotyped with Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip. The quantification of A. marginale infection will be made by the qPCR technique. The data will be submitted to quality control for removing both, samples and SNP markers (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) biased. The reconstruction of the haplotypes will be performed using the fastPhase program, and haplotypes composed of 5 adjacent markers will be used as fundamental units of the association and genomic selection tests. Both genomic studies (GWAS and SG) will be performed using Bayesian Sparse Linear Mixed Model (BSLMM) using the GEMMA software. The results of GWAS and GS can indicate the feasibility of incorporating the Anaplasmosis resistance trait in breeding programs. (AU)