Genome Wide Association Study for Hunting of Bull Fertility Genes

Fertility studies in dairy cattle were directed toward the female side and very little importance has been placed on the influence of the service bull. In this study association mapping was carried out for fertility trait in Holstein dairy cattle bulls using the Illumina Bovine SNP50 Beadchip containing 54001 SNPs powered by Illumina Infinium-II assay. Associated SNPs were queried in the bovine genome. Seven genes were selected as candidate genes. Resequencing and fine mapping of these candidate genes were performed and identified SNPs were associated with dairy cattle bull fertility.