Expression profiles of the MXD3 gene and association of sequence variants with growth traits in Xianan and Qinchuan cattle

摘要

Max dimerization protein 3 (MXD3) belongs to the MYC superfamily of basic helix‐loop‐helix leucine zipper transcription factors, and MXD3‐MAX heterodimers can bind to promoters of target genes to modulate their expression. The aim of this study was to determine the mRNA expression levels in various cattle tissues comprising heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, muscle and subcutaneous fat in Chinese Qinchuan and Xianan cattle breeds. The RT‐qPCR data showed that the gene was variably expressed between all tissues and at levels that were significantly different between two breeds (  MXD3 gene and five different growth traits in cattle. We found two intronic SNPs (g.2694 C>T and g.3801 T>C) and one SNP in 3′untranslated region (3′UTR) (g.6263 G>A) of gene. Association analysis revealed strong associations between pairwise and triple SNP combinations and the growth traits. Based on these results, we suggest that polymorphisms could be useful as molecular markers in the Chinese beef cattle breeding program.