Extensive sequencing of a tropically adapted breed - the Brahman sequencing project

Brahman cattle are well adapted to tropical environments and are extensively used for beef production in Northern Australia. Identifying mutations in Brahman genomes associated with adaptation, fertility, meat quality and growth rates would facilitate genome selection and therefore accelerate genetic gain for these traits, in both Brahman cattle and composite cattle with Brahman ancestry. In this paper, 36 million high quality variants (SNP and Indels) were discovered from 46 whole genome sequenced Brahman bulls that represent key ancestors of the breed in Australia. As some infusion of Bos taurus into Brahman cattle has occurred during breed formation, we investigate regions of the Brahman genome that have high Bos taurus introgression. We identified multiple genome regions in Brahmans that were Bos taurus in origin, and investigated the roles, pathways and trait associations the of genes found in these regions.