Association analysis of aquaporin 7 (AQP7) gene variants with semen quality and fertility in bulls

Authors

TENGHE MA
JIFENG LIU
RUIFENG ZHAO
HAO JIANG
LISHENG DAI
YUMIN ZHAO
ZHIHUI ZHAO
JIABAO ZHANG

Abstract

Aquaporin 7 (AQP7) gene as a candidate Antifreeze gene was investigated and associated with fresh and frozen semen quality traits in 45 Simmental and Charolais bulls. PCR-SSCP, PCR-RFLP, and sequencing method were employed to detect the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the AQP7 gene. Two mutations, A264G and G371C, were identified. The allele frequencies were A (0.97, 0.96) to B (0.03, 0.04) and C (0.97, 0.91) to D (0.03, 0.09) in Simmental and Charolais bulls, respectively. A264G substitution was significantly associated with acrosome integrity ratio (P < 0.01) and motility (P < 0.05) in frozen semen. Meanwhile, G371C substitution was significantly associated with acrosome integrity ratio (P < 0.05), percentages of viable sperm (P < 0.05), and motility (P < 0.01) in frozen semen. The results prove that AQP7 gene SNPs are useful for marker-assisted selection in early seed selection in the bull industry.

DOI

10.3906/vet-0908-33

Keywords

AQP7 gene, single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs, association analysis, Simmental bulls, Charolais bulls

First Page

63

Last Page

66

Recommended Citation

MA, TENGHE; LIU, JIFENG; ZHAO, RUIFENG; JIANG, HAO; DAI, LISHENG; ZHAO, YUMIN; ZHAO, ZHIHUI; and ZHANG, JIABAO (2011) "Association analysis of aquaporin 7 (AQP7) gene variants with semen quality and fertility in bulls," Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences: Vol. 35: No. 1, Article 9. https://doi.org/10.3906/vet-0908-33
Available at: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/veterinary/vol35/iss1/9