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. 2022 Nov 22:13:969959.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.969959. eCollection 2022.

Identification of LTBP2 gene polymorphisms and their association with thoracolumbar vertebrae number, body size, and carcass traits in Dezhou donkeys

Ziwen Liu  1 , Tianqi Wang  1 , Xiaoyuan Shi  1 , Xinrui Wang  1 , Wei Ren  1 , Bingjian Huang  1 , Changfa Wang  1
Affiliations

Identification of LTBP2 gene polymorphisms and their association with thoracolumbar vertebrae number, body size, and carcass traits in Dezhou donkeys

Ziwen Liu et al. Front Genet. .

Abstract

The number of thoracolumbar vertebrae in Dezhou donkeys varies from 22 to 24 and is associated with body size and carcass traits. In mammals, the latent transforming growth factor beta binding protein 2 (LTBP2) has been found to have some functions in the development of thoracolumbar vertebrae. The relationship between LTBP2 and TLN (the number of thoracolumbar vertebrae) of Dezhou donkeys is yet to be reported. The purposes of this study are as follows: 1) to quantify the effect of thoracolumbar vertebrae number variation of Dezhou donkeys on body size and carcass trait; 2) to study the distribution of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the LTBP2 gene of Dezhou donkeys; and 3) to explore whether these SNVs can be used as candidate sites to study the mechanism of Dezhou donkey muti-thoracolumbar vertebrae development. The TLN, body size, and carcass traits of 392 individuals from a Dezhou donkey breed were recorded. All animals were sequenced for LTBP2 using GBTS liquid chip and 16 SNVs were used for further analysis. We then analyzed the relationship between these SNVs with TLN, body size, and carcass traits. The results showed that: 1) c.5547 + 860 C > T, c.5251 + 281 A > C, c.3769 + 40 C > T, and c.2782 + 3975 A > G were complete genetic linkages and significantly associated with thoracic vertebrae number (TN) (p < 0.05) (wild-type homozygotes had more TN than heterozygotes); 2) c.1381 + 768 T > G and c.1381 + 763 G > T were significantly associated with lumber vertebrae number (LN) (p < 0.05); 3) c.1003 + 704 C > T, c.1003 + 651 C > T, c.1003 + 626 A > G, and c.812 + 22526 T > G were significantly associated with chest circumference (CHC), front carcass weight (CWF), after carcass weight (CWA), and carcass weight (CW) (p < 0.05) (wild-type homozygotes were larger than other genotypes in CHC, CWF, CWA, and CW); and 4) the effect of variation is not consistent in c.565 + 11921 A > G, c.565 + 6840 A > G, c.565 + 3453 C > T, and c.494 + 5808 C > T. These results provide useful information that the polymorphism of LTBP2 is significantly associated with TLN, body size, and carcass traits in Dezhou donkeys, which can serve as a molecule marker to improve donkey production performance.

Keywords: Dezhou donkey; LTBP2; association analysis; single nucleotide variants (SNVs); thoracolumbar vertebrae.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Thoracic and lumbar vertebrae specimens of Dezhou donkeys. Notes: (A) the side view of a 17 thoracic vertebrae specimen; (B) the side view of an 18 thoracic vertebrae specimen; (C) the side view of a 19 thoracic vertebrae specimen; (D) the vertical view of 5 lumbar vertebrae specimen; (E) the vertical view of 6 lumbar vertebrae specimen. In each figure, the red arrows mark the starting and ending points of the thoracic or lumbar vertebrae, respectively. The blue arrows indicate the straight-line length of the thoracic or lumbar vertebrae. Red numbers with units indicate the straight-line length value of the thoracic or lumbar vertebrae. Red numbers without units indicate the order of the thoracic or lumbar vertebrae. “LN” means the number of lumbar vertebrae; “TN” means the number of thoracic vertebrae.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Variation in vertebral number of Dezhou donkeys. Notes: (A) variation in TN; (B) variation in LN; (C) variation in TLN; (D) variation in TL-type.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Sixteen SNVs of the LTBP2 gene in Dezhou donkeys.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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