Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (7): 2940-2950.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.07.014

• Animal Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Study on Genomic Selection of Embryos in Holstein Cattle

Zijiao GUO1(), Weijie ZHENG1, Wei SUN2,3, Baojiang WU4, Xiangnan BAO2,3, Qi ZHANG1, Jinfeng HE1, Siqin BAO4, Gaoping ZHAO2, Zixin WANG2, Bo HAN1, Xihe LI2,3,4, Dongxiao SUN1,*()   

  1. 1. National Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Bio-breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
    2. Inner Mongolia Saikexing Institute of Breeding and Reproductive Biotechnology in Domestic Animal, Hohhot 011517, China
    3. National Center of Technology Innovation for Dairy Industry, Hohhot 010020, China
    4. College of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
  • Received:2023-10-07 Online:2024-07-23 Published:2024-07-24
  • Contact: Dongxiao SUN E-mail:gzijiao@cau.edu.cn;sundx@cau.edu.cn

Abstract:

The present study aimed to establish a method for early genomic detection and genetic evaluation of embryos in Holstein cattle in order to select excellent breeding embryos, and further breed outstanding bulls through embryo transfer technology thereby shortening the generation interval and accelerating genetic progress. Firstly, the cloned somatic cells from 4 Holstein bulls was utilized to compare the efficiency of genomic DNA extraction, and call rate and mismatch rate for genotypic data with genome-wide SNP chip from 2-cell and 5-cell samples. Subsequently, the genomic DNA was extracted from 24 early-stage embryo samples of Holstein cattle with 5 cells in each sample, and then genotyped using 150K chip. Further, the genomic estimated breeding values for 9 traits of each embryo were calculated with the GBLUP method based on a large-scale genomic selection reference population. The results indicated that the concentration, purity and relative integrity of genomic DNA of both 2-cell and 5-cell samples were good. Of them, the call rates of 150K chip genotypic data from 5-cell samples were higher (ranging from 89.54% to 95.07%) than those of 2-cell, the mismatch rates were lower (1.02%-4.67%). The quality, quantity, and relative integrity of the genomic DNA from 5-cell samples of 24 embryos were also usable, which call rate of 150K chip data ranged from 92.28% to 98.51%. The genomic evaluation accuracy for the 9 traits (including milk yield, type and somatic cell score) reached 55%-79%, with an average accuracy of not less than 65%. In conclusion, the present study optimized and established an available method for genomic DNA extraction and genomic selection from a small number of cells in Holstein cattle embryos. The genomic call rate of the embryo samples was not less than 90%, and the average accuracy of genomic evaluation was not less than 0.65.

Key words: Holstein cattle, embryo, genomic selection

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