Regulatory genes -- genes that control how other genes are used -- are responsible for 69% of the heritability of dairy cattle traits such as milk production and fertility, according to a new study. This contribution is 44% more than expected and much higher than previous studies of regulatory genes in humans. The findings, reported by a team of animal and human geneticists, could improve the efficiency of agricultural breeding programs. The study also helps solve the longstanding mystery of why mammalian genomes contain so much noncoding DNA.
Regulatory genes -- genes that control how other genes are used -- are responsible for 69% of the heritability of dairy cattle traits such as milk production and fertility, according to a study published August 23 in the journal. This contribution is 44% more than expected and much higher than previous studies of regulatory genes in humans. The findings, reported by a team of animal and human geneticists, could improve the efficiency of agricultural breeding programs.
Most of our genome is made up of"noncoding" DNA that does not code for protein, but the exact function of these noncoding regions remains something of a mystery. Because many genes in these noncoding regions are associated with specific traits like body size or hair color, scientists have long suspected that these genes contribute to an individual's physical features or"phenotype" by regulating how other genes are used.
To do this, the team first used the Cattle Genotype-Tissue Expression atlas to build a model of regulatory genes including both gene expression and RNA splicing genes. Then, they used their model to quantify how mutations in these regulatory genes impacted the heritability of traits in a separate dataset comprised of more than 120,000 dairy cattle genomes. Altogether, they examined 37 traits related to milk production, mastitis, fertility, temperament, and body size.
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Noncoding DNA explains a majority of the heritability of dairy cattle traits, like milk production and fertility: StudyRegulatory genes—genes that control how other genes are used—are responsible for 69% of the heritability of dairy cattle traits such as milk production and fertility, according to a study published August 23 in the journal Cell Genomics.
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