Genet. Sel. Evol. 35 (2003) 103-118
DOI: 10.1051/gse:2002038

Haplotype diversity of the myostatin gene among beef cattle breeds

Susana Dunner^a, M. Eugenia Miranda^a, Yves Amigues^b, Javier Cañón^a, Michel Georges^c, Roger Hanset^d, John Williams^e and François Ménissier<sup>f

a</sup>  Laboratorio de genética molecular, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
^b  Labogena, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas Cedex, France
^c  Department of genetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège (B43), 20 Bd de Colonster, 4000 Liège, Belgium
^d  Herdbook BBB, 4 rue Champs Elysées, 5590 Ciney, Belgium
^e  Roslin Institute, EH25 9PS Midlothian, UK
^f  Institut national de la recherche agronomique, Station de génétique quantitative et appliquée, Domaine de Vilvert, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas Cedex, France

(Received 11 January 2002; accepted 2 August 2002)

Abstract
A total of 678 individuals from 28 European bovine breeds were both phenotyped and analysed at the myostatin locus by the Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) method. Seven new mutations were identified which contribute to the high polymorphism (1 SNP every 100 bp) present in this small gene; twenty haplotypes were described and a genotyping method was set up using the Oligonucleotide Ligation Assay (OLA) method. Some haplotypes appeared to be exclusive to a particular breed; this was the case for 5 in the Charolaise (involving mutation Q204X) and 7 in the Maine-Anjou (involving mutation E226X). The relationships between the different haplotypes were studied, thus allowing to test the earlier hypothesis on the origin of muscular hypertrophy in Europe: muscular hypertrophy (namely nt821(del11)) was mainly spread in different waves from northern Europe milk purpose populations in most breeds; however, other mutations (mostly disruptive) arose in a single breed, were highly selected and have since scarcely evolved to other populations.

Key words: muscular hypertrophy / myostatin gene / haplotype diversity / beef cattle breeds

Correspondence and reprints: Susana Dunner
    e-mail: dunner@vet.ucm.es

© INRA, EDP Sciences 2003