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Cattle gain stature

Nature Genetics volume 43, pages 397–398 (2011)Cite this article

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Identifying causal variants for complex traits and understanding their function remain arduous tasks. A new study combines the advantages of gene mapping in livestock with elegant genetic and functional analyses to address these challenges and identifies candidate regulatory variants affecting stature in cattle.

Genome-wide association studies in humans have shown that complex traits such as height can be influenced by hundreds or even thousands of polymorphisms of small effect1. One consequence of this highly polygenic architecture is that it is difficult to define the underlying causative variants. On page 405 of this issue, Michel Georges, Wouter Coppieters and colleagues2 report the identification of candidate regulatory variants influencing stature in cattle. Their work highlights the effort required to pinpoint candidate causal variants and the value of applying a range of genetic and functional approaches to the study of complex traits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peter M. Visscher is at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.,

    Peter M Visscher

  2. Michael E. Goddard is at the Department of Primary Industries, Australia and the Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, Melbourne, Victoria, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,

    Michael E Goddard

Authors
  1. Peter M Visscher
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  2. Michael E Goddard
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Peter M Visscher or Michael E Goddard.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Visscher, P., Goddard, M. Cattle gain stature. Nat Genet 43, 397–398 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.819

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