Associations between polymorphisms of the gene and milk production traits in water buffaloes

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 () is an important regulator of mammary gland differentiation and cell survival that has been regarded as a candidate gene affecting milk production traits in mammals. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate significant associations between SNP of the gene and milk production traits in buffaloes. Here, 18 SNP were identified in the buffalo gene, including 15 intronic mutations and 3 exon mutations. All the identified SNP were then genotyped using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry methods from 192 buffaloes. All the SNP were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and 2 haplotype blocks were successfully constructed based on these SNP data, which formed 5 and 3 major haplotypes in the population (>5%), respectively. The results of association analysis showed that only SNP13 located in exon 10 was significantly associated with the milk production traits in the population ( < 0.05). Single nucleotide polymorphism 2, SNP5, SNP8, and SNP9 were associated with protein percentage, and SNP4 and SNP10 were associated with 305-d milk yield ( < 0.05). Our results provide evidence that polymorphisms of the buffalo gene are associated with milk production traits and can be used as a candidate gene for marker-assisted selection in buffalo breeding.