Variation in the <scp><i>XKR4</i></scp> gene was significantly associated with subcutaneous rump fat thickness in indicine and composite cattle

<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>Variation in the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case"><jats:italic>XK</jats:italic></jats:styled-content><jats:italic>, Kell blood group complex subunit–related family, member 4</jats:italic> (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case"><jats:italic>XKR4</jats:italic></jats:styled-content>) gene on <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BTA</jats:styled-content>14 was associated with rump fat thickness in a recent genome‐wide association study. This region is also of interest because it is known to show evidence of a signature of population genetic selection. In this study, additional variation in this gene was genotyped in a sample of a total of 1283 animals of the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">B</jats:styled-content>elmont <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">R</jats:styled-content>ed (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BEL</jats:styled-content>) and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>anta <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">G</jats:styled-content>ertrudis (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SGT</jats:styled-content>) breeds. The <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SNP</jats:styled-content> rs41724387 was significantly (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.001) associated with rump fat thickness and explained 5.9% of the genetic variance for the trait in this sample. Using the 4466 genotypes for the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SNP</jats:styled-content> rs42646708 from several data sets to estimate effects in seven breeds, this relatively large quantitative trait locus effect appears to be a result of the variation in indicine and taurine–indicine composite cattle. However, the only <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DNA</jats:styled-content> variant found in Brahman cattle that altered the predicted amino acid sequence of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case"><jats:italic>XKR4</jats:italic></jats:styled-content> was not associated with rump fat thickness. This suggests that causative mutations lie outside the coding sequence of this gene.</jats:p>