Identification of MHC Alleles Associated With Disease Resistance/Susceptibility In Smallholder Cattle In Zambia

Background: The occurrence of Major Histocompatibility complex (MHC) alleles associated with disease resistance/susceptibility in African cattle is ill-defined. Methods: Herein, we used manual annotation to identify animals possessing MHC alleles associated with disease resistance/susceptibility from a database of alleles sequenced from 846 cattle in Zambia. Results: Overall, we found 28 (3.3%), 21 (2.6%), 55 (6.5%), and 15 (1.8%) animals with resistance alleles to Mastitis, BLV, Theileriosis, FMD, and 39 (4.6%) animals susceptibility alleles to Dermatophilosis, respectively. Conclusion: This study provides the first evidence of resistance/susceptibility alleles in smallholder cattle in Zambia and the data could aid strategies for breeding cattle with enhanced resistance to disease in endemic countries.