Variations in regulatory regions associated with meat production and quality characteristics in the Nelore breed

Abstract

Cattle raising in Brazil is an extremely important economic activity for the country, in which Zebu cattle (Bos indicus) represent over 80% of the national herd. Meat production and quality characteristics, such as feed efficiency and intramuscular fat, can determine the production costs and meat acceptance. Importantly, these traits can be improved through genetic selection. Within the projects "Genetic strategies for quality beef production" and "Molecular basis of meat quality in Nelore cattle", a large amount of genomic and proteomic data was produced that allowed to identify several genomic, structural and functional variations, associated with these characters of interest. In this context, this proposal intends to use imputed genotypes at the genome sequence level from a total of 814 animals to identify Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in regulatory regions. Through bioinformatics analyzes, we will perform a search for SNPs in microRNA sequences (pre- and mature-miRNA), as well as in sequences related to microRNA binding sites to RNA. In addition, we intend to search for SNPs in Transcription Factor (TF) and cofactors (TcoF). Finally, we will integrate information about SNP-miRNA-mRNA and SNP-TF/TcoF-mRNA interactions with genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data available to the population. Results from this work will indicate possible causal variations and help in understanding the genes functions (and their interactions) related to the characteristics of interest. (AU)