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Sequence-based genome-wide association study and fine-mapping in German Holstein reveal new quantitative trait loci for health traits

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We conducted a large GWAS of 11 health traits belonging to 3 trait complexes: (1) metabolic diseases, (2) infectious and noninfectious feet and claw disorders, and (3) udder-related traits in 100,809 to 180,217 German Holstein cows to investigate the genetic architecture and underlying biological mechanisms behind these complex traits. The GWAS identified 12,306 genome-wide significant variants across 10 traits. The new association signals were inspected with a Bayesian fine-mapping approach, leading to the discovery of 159 novel variants with high potential for causality. Variants were in known and novel regions for the traits studied, leading to a list of 53 novel candidate genes. Our study represents the largest whole-genome sequence GWAS for health traits so far, hence ensuring the power to detect meaningful variants, especially when enhanced with fine-mapping.
DOI: 10.3168/jds.2025-26328
Authors: A.M. Križanac, C. Reimer, J. Heise, Z. Liu, J.E. Pryce, J. Bennewitz, G. Thaller, C. Falker-Gieske, J. Tetens
Institutions: University of Göttingen, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, La Trobe University, Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, University of Hohenheim, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,500
OpenAlex ID: W4410221863
FWCI: 1.066
Cites: 137
Cited by: 2
Related to: 10