A deletion mutation within the goat AKAP13 gene is significantly associated with litter size

Abstract

A-kinase anchoring protein 13 (AKAP13) is one of the AKAP protein family members, which is correlated with estrogen receptors (ERs) and progesterone receptor (PR) activity. Consequently, the AKAP13 gene is considered to be one of the candidate genes for regulating female fertility. Hence, the objectives of this study were to discover the potential insertion/deletion (indel) variants within the AKAP13 gene and evaluate their associations with litter size of Shaanbei white cashmere goats (SBWC) to screen candidate genes for the molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS). Ultimately, we found the 16-bp deletion of AKAP13 gene which displayed three genotypes (II, ID and DD). However, it was not confirmed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in the tested population. Statistical analysis demonstrated that this 16-bp indel locus was significantly associated with litter size in goats (p < 0.05), in which the ID genotype was a key genotype for increasing litter size in goats. Besides, independent χ² tests between different genotypes and litter size showed that high-prolific groups had higher frequency of the ‘D’ allele (p < 0.05). Briefly, AKAP13 gene is a candidate gene for improving fertility, and its 16-bp indel locus can be used as a valid DNA molecular marker for the MAS in goat breeding.

Keywords:

• Goat
• AKAP13 gene
• indel
• MAS
• litter size
• molecular breeding

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Ph.D. Prof. Lei Qu and his team from Shaanxi Province Engineering and Technology Research Center of Cashmere Goats (Shaanxi, China), and Yulin University for their support of our test samples and data.

Disclosure statement

We confirm that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization for the material discussed in the manuscript, and all authors approve the publication of manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data sets are available upon request by contacting the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 32060734].