Genome-Wide Association Study of Immune Indices in Yaks

The yak is a vital livestock resource on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, renowned for its strong disease resistance and high-quality meat. However, various diseases pose significant threats to its health and lead to substantial economic losses. Current feeding management practices, along with available d...

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Main Authors: Daoning Yu, Xiaoming Ma, Chun Huang, Tong Wang, Mengfan Zhang, Fen Feng, Xiaoyun Wu, Yongfu La, Xian Guo, Ping Yan, Derong Zhang, Chunnian Liang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Animals
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/14/2114
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author Daoning Yu
Xiaoming Ma
Chun Huang
Tong Wang
Mengfan Zhang
Fen Feng
Xiaoyun Wu
Yongfu La
Xian Guo
Ping Yan
Derong Zhang
Chunnian Liang
author_facet Daoning Yu
Xiaoming Ma
Chun Huang
Tong Wang
Mengfan Zhang
Fen Feng
Xiaoyun Wu
Yongfu La
Xian Guo
Ping Yan
Derong Zhang
Chunnian Liang
author_sort Daoning Yu
collection DOAJ
description The yak is a vital livestock resource on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, renowned for its strong disease resistance and high-quality meat. However, various diseases pose significant threats to its health and lead to substantial economic losses. Current feeding management practices, along with available drugs and vaccines, have demonstrated limited effectiveness in preventing and controlling infectious diseases. Additionally, challenges such as drug resistance and the safety of animal products persist. Therefore, enhancing the disease-resistant breeding capacity of yaks is crucial. In this study, we examined 192 yaks by measuring the concentrations of 10 immune indicators in serum by using the ELISA method and conducting whole-genome resequencing, which identified 19,182,942 SNP loci. Through genome-wide association analysis, we detected 323 significant SNPs located near or within 125 candidate genes, most of which are associated with disease and significantly enriched in the TGF-β signaling pathway. Overall, our study identified a series of novel variants and candidate genes associated with disease resistance traits in yaks, providing important information for the molecular breeding of disease resistance in yaks. These results not only contribute to a deeper understanding of the function of disease resistance genes in yaks but also hold great potential for accelerating precision disease resistance breeding in yaks.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2076-2615
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Animals
spelling doaj-art-3e5af956c7ba4089933cdd4bd8eac1d32025-08-20T03:36:15ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152025-07-011514211410.3390/ani15142114Genome-Wide Association Study of Immune Indices in YaksDaoning Yu0Xiaoming Ma1Chun Huang2Tong Wang3Mengfan Zhang4Fen Feng5Xiaoyun Wu6Yongfu La7Xian Guo8Ping Yan9Derong Zhang10Chunnian Liang11Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences and Engineering, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730106, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, ChinaThe yak is a vital livestock resource on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, renowned for its strong disease resistance and high-quality meat. However, various diseases pose significant threats to its health and lead to substantial economic losses. Current feeding management practices, along with available drugs and vaccines, have demonstrated limited effectiveness in preventing and controlling infectious diseases. Additionally, challenges such as drug resistance and the safety of animal products persist. Therefore, enhancing the disease-resistant breeding capacity of yaks is crucial. In this study, we examined 192 yaks by measuring the concentrations of 10 immune indicators in serum by using the ELISA method and conducting whole-genome resequencing, which identified 19,182,942 SNP loci. Through genome-wide association analysis, we detected 323 significant SNPs located near or within 125 candidate genes, most of which are associated with disease and significantly enriched in the TGF-β signaling pathway. Overall, our study identified a series of novel variants and candidate genes associated with disease resistance traits in yaks, providing important information for the molecular breeding of disease resistance in yaks. These results not only contribute to a deeper understanding of the function of disease resistance genes in yaks but also hold great potential for accelerating precision disease resistance breeding in yaks.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/14/2114yakimmune indicesresequencingGWASSNP
spellingShingle Daoning Yu
Xiaoming Ma
Chun Huang
Tong Wang
Mengfan Zhang
Fen Feng
Xiaoyun Wu
Yongfu La
Xian Guo
Ping Yan
Derong Zhang
Chunnian Liang
Genome-Wide Association Study of Immune Indices in Yaks
Animals
yak
immune indices
resequencing
GWAS
SNP
title Genome-Wide Association Study of Immune Indices in Yaks
title_full Genome-Wide Association Study of Immune Indices in Yaks
title_fullStr Genome-Wide Association Study of Immune Indices in Yaks
title_full_unstemmed Genome-Wide Association Study of Immune Indices in Yaks
title_short Genome-Wide Association Study of Immune Indices in Yaks
title_sort genome wide association study of immune indices in yaks
topic yak
immune indices
resequencing
GWAS
SNP
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/14/2114
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