Abstract：
Unfavorable genetic correlations between milk production, fertility, and urea traits have been reported. However, knowledge of the genomic regions associated with these unfavorable correlations is limited. Here, we used the correlation scan method to identify and investigate the regions driving or antagonizing the genetic correlations between production vs. fertility, urea vs. fertility, and urea vs. production traits. Driving regions produce an estimate of correlation that is in the same direction as the global correlation. Antagonizing regions produce an estimate in the opposite direction of the global estimates. Our dataset comprised 6567, 4700, and 12,658 Holstein cattle with records of production traits (milk yield, fat yield, and protein yield), fertility (calving interval) and urea traits (milk urea nitrogen and blood urea nitrogen predicted using milk-mid-infrared spectroscopy), respectively. Several regions across the genome drive the correlations between production, fertility, and urea traits. Antagonizing regions were confined to certain parts of the genome and the genes within these regions were mostly involved in preventing metabolic dysregulation, liver reprogramming, metabolism remodeling, and lipid homeostasis. The driving regions were enriched for QTL related to puberty, milk, and health-related traits. Antagonizing regions were mostly related to muscle development, metabolic body weight, and milk traits. In conclusion, we have identified genomic regions of potential importance for dairy cattle breeding. Future studies could investigate the antagonizing regions as potential genomic regions to break the unfavorable correlations and improve milk production as well as fertility and urea traits.
摘要：
牛奶产量之间不利的遗传相关性，生育力,和尿素性状已被报道。然而,与这些不利的相关性相关的基因组区域的知识是有限的。这里,我们使用相关扫描方法来识别和研究驱动或拮抗生产与生产之间遗传相关性的区域生育力,尿素vs.生育力,和尿素vs.生产性状。驱动区域产生与全局相关方向相同的相关估计。对抗区域产生与全球估计相反的估计。我们的数据集包括6567、4700和12,658头荷斯坦牛，其生产性状记录(产奶量，脂肪产量，和蛋白质产量)，生育力（产卵间隔）和尿素性状（使用牛奶中红外光谱预测的牛奶尿素氮和血液尿素氮），分别。基因组中的几个区域驱动生产之间的相关性，生育力,和尿素性状。拮抗区域仅限于基因组的某些部分，这些区域内的基因主要参与预防代谢失调，肝脏重编程，代谢重塑，和脂质稳态。驱动区域丰富了与青春期相关的QTL，牛奶，和健康相关的特征。拮抗区域主要与肌肉发育有关，代谢体重，和牛奶特征。总之,我们已经确定了对奶牛育种具有潜在重要性的基因组区域。未来的研究可以研究拮抗区域作为潜在的基因组区域，以打破不利的相关性并改善产奶量以及生育力和尿素性状。
