Novel polymorphism of the bovine fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene are related to backfat thickness and longissimus muscle area in five Chinese native cattle breeds

In this study, genetic variation of the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) was detected by PCRSSCP and DNA sequencing in 618 individuals from five Chinese indigenous cattle breeds, and their genetic effects on meat quality traits were evaluated. The results showed that a novel single nucleotide polymorphism C1071T was detected in exon 5 and the allelic frequencies for the C and T alleles of the five breeds were 0.666/0.334, 0.583/0.417, 0.631/0.369, 0.653/0.347 and 0.689/0.311, respectively. Animals with CT genotype had higher mean values for backfat thickness than those with CC or TT genotypes (P < 0.01). Individuals with CC or CT genotypes had higher longissimus muscle area than those with TT genotype (P < 0.05). The FTO gene may be a candidate gene for identifying differences in meat quality traits and therefore, could be applied to marker-assisted selection of native Chinese cattle breeds.