Search

Gayal and yak are well adapted to the local high-altitude environments, yet the transcriptional regulation difference of the plateau environment among them remains obscure. Herein, cross-tissue and cross-species comparative transcriptome analysis were performed for the six hypoxia-sensitive tissues from gayal, yak, and cattle. Gene expression profiles for all single-copy orthologous genes showed tissue-specific expression patterns. By differential expression analysis, we identified 3020 and 1995 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in at least one tissue of gayal vs. cattle and yak vs. cattle, respectively. Notably, we found that the adaptability of the gayal to the alpine canyon environment is highly similar to the yak living in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, such as promoting red blood cell development, angiogenesis, reducing blood coagulation, immune system activation, and energy metabolism shifts from fatty acid β-oxidation to glycolysis. By further analyzing the common and unique DEGs in the six tissues, we also found that numerous expression regulatory genes related to these functions are unique in the gayal and yak, which may play important roles in adapting to the corresponding high-altitude environment. Combined with WGCNA analysis, we found UQCRC1 , COX5A are the shared differentially expression hub genes related to the energy supply of myocardial contraction in the heart-related modules of gayal and yak, and CAPS is a shared differentially hub gene among the hub genes of the lung-related module, which is related to pulmonary artery smooth muscle contraction. Additionally, EDN3 is the unique differentially expression hub gene related to the tracheal epithelium and pulmonary vasoconstriction in the lung of gayal. CHRM2 is a unique differentially expression hub gene that was identified in the heart of yak, which has an important role in the autonomous regulation of the heart. These results provide a basis for further understanding the complex transcriptome expression pattern and the regulatory mechanism of high-altitude domestication of gayal and yak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gayal and yak are well adapted to the local high-altitude environments, yet the transcriptional regulation difference of the plateau environment among them remains obscure. Herein, cross-tissue and cross-species comparative transcriptome analysis were performed for the six hypoxia-sensitive tissues from gayal, yak, and cattle. Gene expression profiles for all single-copy orthologous genes showed tissue-specific expression patterns. By differential expression analysis, we identified 3020 and 1995 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in at least one tissue of gayal vs. cattle and yak vs. cattle, respectively. Notably, we found that the adaptability of the gayal to the alpine canyon environment is highly similar to the yak living in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, such as promoting red blood cell development, angiogenesis, reducing blood coagulation, immune system activation, and energy metabolism shifts from fatty acid β-oxidation to glycolysis. By further analyzing the common and unique DEGs in the six tissues, we also found that numerous expression regulatory genes related to these functions are unique in the gayal and yak, which may play important roles in adapting to the corresponding high-altitude environment. Combined with WGCNA analysis, we found UQCRC1 , COX5A are the shared differentially expression hub genes related to the energy supply of myocardial contraction in the heart-related modules of gayal and yak, and CAPS is a shared differentially hub gene among the hub genes of the lung-related module, which is related to pulmonary artery smooth muscle contraction. Additionally, EDN3 is the unique differentially expression hub gene related to the tracheal epithelium and pulmonary vasoconstriction in the lung of gayal. CHRM2 is a unique differentially expression hub gene that was identified in the heart of yak, which has an important role in the autonomous regulation of the heart. These results provide a basis for further understanding the complex transcriptome expression pattern and the regulatory mechanism of high-altitude domestication of gayal and yak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone weight is critical to affect body conformation and stature in cattle. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide association study for bone weight in Chinese Simmental beef cattle based on the imputed sequence variants. We identified 364 variants associated with bone weight, while 350 of them were not included in the Illumina BovineHD SNP array, and several candidate genes and GO terms were captured to be associated with bone weight. Remarkably, we identified four potential variants in a candidate region on BTA6 using Bayesian fine-mapping. Several important candidate genes were captured, including LAP3 , MED28 , NCAPG , LCORL , SLIT2 , and IBSP , which have been previously reported to be associated with carcass traits, body measurements, and growth traits. Notably, we found that the transcription factors related to MED28 and LCORL showed high conservation across multiple species. Our findings provide some valuable information for understanding the genetic basis of body stature in beef cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]