Kinship analysis and pedigree reconstruction by RAD sequencing in cattle

Abstract

Kinship and pedigree information, used for estimating inbreeding, heritability, selection, and gene flow, is useful for breeding and animal conservation. However, as the size of the crossbred population increases, inaccurate generation and parentage recoding in livestock farms increases. Restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) is a cost-effective platform for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery and genotyping. Here, we performed a kinship analysis and pedigree reconstruction for Angus and Xiangxi yellow cattle, which benefit from good meat quality and yields, providing a basis for livestock management. A total of 975 cattle, including 923 offspring with 24 known sires and 28 known dams, were sampled and subjected to SNP discovery and genotyping. The identified SNPs panel included 7305 SNPs capturing the maximum difference between paternal and maternal genome information allowing us to distinguish between the F1 and F2 generation with 90% accuracy. In addition, parentage assignment software based on different strategies verified that the cross-assignments. In conclusion, we provided a low-cost and efficient SNP panel for kinship analyses and the improvement of local genetic resources, which are valuable for breed improvement, local resource utilization, and conservation.