Abstract
Meat quality and carcass traits are the most economically important traits affecting the value and the quality characteristics of the animal at slaughter. In this study, we analyzed the genomes of 295 domestic cattle from 20 global breeds using next-generation sequencing to identify signatures of positive selection associated with meat production and quality traits. The results of population genetic analysis revealed genetic differentiation among worldwide cattle groups. We observed clustering of samples in agreement with their geographic origins and production characteristics. We further observed noticeable genetic variety between cattle groups from different geographical regions. Generally, the lowest genetic diversity was determined for commercial cattle breeds, while the highest genetic diversity was found in African local cattle breeds. Our search for putative selective genomic regions in beef cattle populations revealed several candidate genes such as BMP2, EGR1, MAGEL2, U6, TMEM201, ELK3 and 5S_rRNA that were previously explored to be associated with carcass traits and meat quality in beef cattle. The enriched pathways and candidate genes discovered in this study could supply a basis for future improvement through the use of whole-genome technologies and selective breeding.