Association of CAST Gene Polymorphisms with Carcass and Meat Quality Traits in Chinese Commercial Cattle Herds

Li, Jiao; Zhang, Lu-Pei; Gan, Qian-Fu; Li, Jun-Ya; Gao, Hui-Jiang; Yuan, Zheng-Rong; Gao, Xue; Chen, Jin-Bao; Xu, Shang-Zhong

doi:2010.23.11.1405

Article

Animal Breeding and Genetics

Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 2010;23(11): 1405-1411.
https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2010.90602 Published online October 25, 2010.

Association of CAST Gene Polymorphisms with Carcass and Meat Quality Traits in Chinese Commercial Cattle Herds

Jiao Li, Lu-Pei Zhang, Qian-Fu Gan, Jun-Ya Li, Hui-Jiang Gao, Zheng-Rong Yuan, Xue Gao, Jin-Bao Chen, Shang-Zhong Xu

Abstract

Calpastatin (CAST), an endogenous inhibitor of the calpains, plays an important role in post-mortem tenderization of meat. The objectives of this study were to investigate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the bovine CAST gene and association with carcass and meat quality traits. A total of 212 cattle from commercial herds were tested in this study including 2 pure introduced breeds, 4 cross populations, and 3 pure Chinese native breeds. Five SNPs were identified at position 2959 (A/G), 2870 (G/A), 3088 (C/T), 3029 (G/A) and 2857 (C/T) in the CAST gene (GenBank Accession No. AF159246). Allele frequencies of SNP2959 and SNP2870 were 0.701 (A) and 0.462 (A), respectively. A general linear model was used to evaluate the associations between the two markers and 7 traits. The results showed that both SNP2959 and SNP2870 were significantly (p<0.01) associated with the Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), while they had no significant association with the other 6 traits in the whole population. However, in Chinese native pure breeds, only SNP2870 had significant association with WBSF (p<0.05). The simultaneous analysis of two-marker genotype effects indicated animals containing the A/G haplotype (A for SNP2959 and G for SNP2870) tended to have lower shear force than those containing the G/A haplotype, and, especially, animals homozygous for the A/G haplotype had approximately 2 kg lower shear force than those homozygous for the G/A haplotype (p<0.01). These results suggested that both markers may be effective for the marker-assisted selection of meat quality traits in Chinese commercial herds, especially SNP2870 which can be used for Chinese native cattle.

Keywords: Calpastatin Gene; Carcass and Meat Quality Traits; Beef Cattle; SNPs