A meta-analysis on association between CSN3 gene variants and milk yield and composition in cattle

A meta-analysis on the effects of A and B alleles, the most frequent alleles of CSN3 gene, on milk yield and composition traits was conducted by pooling a large dataset consisting of 30 471 genotyped cattle. Four genetic models, comprising dominant (AA + AB vs. BB), recessive (AA vs. AB + BB), additive (AA vs. BB) and co-dominant (AA + BB vs. AB), were employed to analyze data. Standardized mean difference (SMD) was used to measure the size of the effects of A and B alleles of CSN3 on studied traits. Effect sizes of 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 represent small, medium and large effects, respectively. The results indicate that B allele, in the form of BB genotype, has a significant, but medium effect on lactation yield under dominant (SMD = 0.259, P-value = 0.006) and additive (SMD = 0.279, P-value = 0.035) models. Moreover, a small decrease in the fat percentage occurred in cows having A allele under dominant (SMD = -0.077, P-value = 0.006) and additive (SMD = -0.106, P-value = 0.035) models. Furthermore, CSN3 variants significantly but slightly affect protein percentage under dominant (SMD = -0.146, P-value = 0.000), recessive (SMD = -0.077, P-value = 0.000) and additive (SMD = -0.219, P-value = 0.000) models, showing the negative effect of A allele on this trait. Meta-analysis results reveal that daily milk yield is slightly affected by CSN3 variants under recessive (SMD = 0.056, P-value = 0.033) and additive (SMD = 0.061, P-value = 0.013) genetic models. There is no effect of CSN3 variants on either protein or fat yield. In addition, the effects of CSN3 variants on milk-related traits were not observed under the co-dominant model. Sensitivity and publication bias analyses were carried out to confirm the stability of meta-analyses results.