%0 Journal Article
%T Maternal variant in the upstream of FOXP3 gene on the X chromosome is associated with recurrent infertility in Japanese Black cattle.
%A Arishima T
%A Sasaki S
%A Isobe T
%A Ikebata Y
%A Shimbara S
%A Ikeda S
%A Kawashima K
%A Suzuki Y
%A Watanabe M
%A Sugano S
%A Mizoshita K
%A Sugimoto Y
%J BMC Genet
%V 18
%N 1
%D Dec 2017 6
%M 29212449
%F 2.759
%R 10.1186/s12863-017-0573-8
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Repeat breeding, which is defined as cattle failure to conceive after three or more inseminations in the absence of clinical abnormalities, is a substantial problem in cattle breeding. To identify maternal genetic variants of repeat breeding in Japanese Black cattle, we selected 29 repeat-breeding heifers that failed to conceive following embryo transfer (ET) and conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using the traits.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>We found that a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; g.92,377,635A > G) in the upstream region of the FOXP3 gene on the X chromosome was highly associated with repeat breeding and failure to conceive following ET (P = 1.51 × 10-14). FOXP3 is a master gene for differentiation of regulatory T (Treg) cells that function in pregnancy maintenance. Reporter assay results revealed that the activity of the FOXP3 promoter was lower in reporter constructs with the risk-allele than in those with the non-risk-allele by approximately 0.68 fold. These findings suggest that the variant in the upstream region of FOXP3 with the risk-allele decreased FOXP3 transcription, which in turn, could reduce the number of maternal Treg cells and lead to infertility. The frequency of the risk-allele in repeat-breeding heifers is more than that in cows, suggesting that the risk-allele could be associated with infertility in repeat-breeding heifers.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>This GWAS identified a maternal variant in the upstream region of FOXP3 that was associated with infertility in repeat-breeding Japanese Black cattle that failed to conceive using ET. The variant affected the level of FOXP3 mRNA expression. Thus, the results suggest that the risk-allele could serve as a useful marker to reduce and eliminate animals with inferior fertility in Japanese Black cattle.