Plant & Animal Genomes XV Conference

January 13-17, 2007
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Polymorphisms In The Bovine Fibroblast Growth Factor 8 (FGF8) Gene Are Associated With Carcass Quality And Growth Traits In Beef Cattle.

Elisa F. Marques¹ , Donald J. Nkrumah² , Stephen S. Moore¹

¹  Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2P5.

²  Merial Limited, 4-10 Ag/For Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2P5.

The Fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8) gene encodes a secreted protein with effects in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton. Recent studies have linked fgf8 to a number of Quantitative Trait Loci affecting obesity in mice which indicates its potential for regulating adiposity in other species. In this experiment, 464 animals from an experimental composite line comprised of Angus, Charolais and Hybrid steers were sequenced for FGF8 introns and exons (NW_930497.1). Four unique polymorphisms were identified, two exonic and two intronic. Single locus and haplotype association analysis using General Linear Mixed Model in SAS were carried out resulting in a number of significant associations with carcass quality and growth traits in beef cattle; including carcass lean meat yield % (P<0.006), ultrasound marbling (P= 0.025) and birth weight (P=0.007).