Genome-wide association study uncovers four QTL predisposing to supernumerary teats in cattle

Supernumerary teats (hyperthelia, SNTs) are a common abnormality of the bovine udder with a medium to high heritability and a postulated oligogenic or polygenic inheritance pattern. SNTs not only negatively affect machine milking ability but also act as a reservoir for bacteria. A genome-wide association study was carried out to identify genes involved in the development of SNTs in the dual-purpose Fleckvieh breed. A total of 2467 progeny-tested bulls were genotyped at 43 698 single nucleotide polymorphisms, and daughter yield deviations (DYDs) for 'udder clearness' (UC) were used as high-heritability phenotypes. Massive structuring of the study population was accounted for by principal components analysis-based and mixed model-based approaches. Four loci on BTA5, BTA6, BTA11 and BTA17 were significantly associated with the UC DYD. Three associated regions contain genes of the highly conserved Wnt signalling pathway. The four QTL together account for 10.7% of the variance of the UC DYD, whereas the major fraction of the DYD variance is attributable to chromosomes with no identified QTL. Our results support both an oligogenic and a polygenic inheritance pattern of SNTs in cattle. The identified candidate genes permit insights into the genetic architecture of teat malformations in cattle and provide clues to unravel the molecular mechanisms of mammary gland alterations in cattle and other species.