Association of Microsatellite Marker in FABP4 Gene with Marbling Score and Live Weight in Hanwoo

The bovine fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) plays an important role to uptake intracellular fatty acid. It has been previously reported as a positional candidate gene for marbling score in livestock. The re-sequencing of FABP4 gene detected a polymorphic AT repeated sequence in intron II of FABP4 gene. Allelic distribution for this microsatellite marker was examined in other cattle breeds. A total of 8 alleles were detected with diverse repeat units (14 to 21 AT repeat) in Hanwoo and 7 breeds. Of the 8 alleles, the predominant alleles were (AT)16, (AT)18 and (AT)19 in the Hanwoo and 7 cattle breeds. The linear mixed model for genotypic effect (3237AT) on carcass traits showed a significant effect on marbling score (MAR P=0.025) and live weight (LWT; P=0.04) in the 583 Hanwoo cattle population. Live weight (LW) was highest in the homozygous (AT)17 genotype (557.5 ± 6.94) and lowest in the heterozygous (AT)16/17 genotype (521.7 ± 7.70). On the other hand, the homozygous (AT)17 genotype (3.0 ± 0.15) has the highest effect on marbling score and the lowest effect was in homozygous (AT)18 genotype (2.2 ± 0.15). The marbling score difference between both groups was 0.8 which is around two times higher than SNP genotype effect on marbling score in Limousin × Wagyu crosses. (Key words : Fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4), Microsatellite marker, Marbling score (MAR))