Phenotypes

Fontanesi  et al. (2010): "[V]ariation in the white spotting in several cattle breeds is largely influenced by the multiple allelic series at the S locus, which includes at least four alleles (Olson 1999): SH (Hereford pattern), SP (Pinzgauer pattern or lineback), S+ (non-spotted) and s (spotting pattern). The SH allele gives white face, belly, feet and tail, often with a white stripe over the shoulder when homozygous. The SP allele gives pigm...

Complex vertebral malformation is an inherited syndrome in Holstein-Friesian cattle. CVM has been reported in aborted, premature born, stillborn and neonatal calves. Affected calves have a reduced weight, a misshapen backbone and tendon contractions in the legs. Several other malformations including heart malformations are associated with this syndrome. A DNA test is available in Denmark and the Netherlands. [Imke Tammen: 26 Jan 2002] From a s...

Reynolds et al. (2021): “The top-associated SNP in these analyses presented a highly correlated … c.1561-1G>A splice acceptor mutation in GALNT2 as potentially responsible for these effects … .” The authors “had provisionally mapped the variant as a candidate stature mutation (unpublished), and subsequently as a variant for which homozygotes were depleted … (Charlier et al., 2016).”

This disorder is of particular interest in cattle, because it is one of the few cases in which an embryonic lethal has been identified. (By their very nature, embryonic lethals are difficult to identify; their only manifestation is a return to service.) To date, the only known cause of this disorder in cattle is a nonsense mutation in codon 405 of the UMPS gene, resulting in a complete deficiency of functional UMPS (Schwenger et al., 1993). Si...

Jacinto et al. (2025) investigated a Holstein calf with primordial disproportionate dwarfism and craniofacial dysmorphism using a whole genome sequencing approach: "A heterozygous pathogenic missense variant in exon 12 of PDGFRA [Chr6:g.69749162 T > C; c.1685 T > C; p.Ile562Thr; omia.variant:1841], which replaces residue 562, was found and might be due to a spontaneous de novo mutation. However, due to the lack of parental DNA, we could ...

Burgstaller et al. (2016) have provided strong evidence that the FH2 frameshift mutation (see OMIA 001958-9913), namely c.771_778delTTGAAAAGinsCATC (rs379675307) in SLC2A2, is actually causative of Fanconi-Bickel syndrome in Fleckvieh cattle. Joller et al. (2018) reported the same likely causal variant in a Swiss Braunvieh calf.

By sequencing the most likely functional positional candidate gene from the mapped region (see Mapping section), Littlejohn et al. (2014) identified a causal mutation as a "nonsynonymous SNP in exon 5 [that] encodes a p.Cys221Gly substitution highly conserved across vertebrates and other structurally related hormones, disrupting one of three disulphide bonds defining the three-dimensional (3D) structure of mature prolactin hormone" (ss10672894...

Adams et al. (2012) revealed the causal mutation of HH1 as "a nonsense mutation in APAF1 . . . , which is predicted to truncate approximately one-third of the encoded APAF1 protein". Because functional APAF1 peptide is required for embryo development, homozygosity for this allele results in natural spontaneous abortion, and, consequently, perceived reduced fertility in carrier bulls that happen to be mated to carrier cows. Adams et al. (2016) ...

In an extensive study involving exome capture and next-gen sequencing, McClure et al. (2014) were not able to discover any potentially causal variant for haplotype HH2. Yang et al. (2021): "Short- and long-read WGS was performed on four carriers and four non-carriers of HH2 to screen for variants in concordance with HH2 haplotype status.Sequence variation analysis revealed five putative functional variants of protein-coding genes, including a...

Based on strong evidence from Swiss Holsteins, Häfliger et al. (2022) reported PCDH15; c.2599C>G as a likely causal variant for this harmful haplotype.

Because of the obvious homology of this disorder with the homologous human disorder, Drögemüller et al. (2001) proposed that the bovine disorder be called by the name of its human homologue, which is now done in this catalogue. The earlier names are listed here as species-specific names [Frank Nicholas 20 June 2002].

Häfliger et al. (2020): "Variant calling and filtering against the 1000 Bull Genomes variant catalogue resulted in the detection of a single homozygous protein-changing variant exclusively present in both sequenced genomes. This single-nucleotide deletion in exon 3 of IL17RA on bovine chromosome 5 was predicted to have a deleterious impact on the encoded protein due to a frameshift leading to a truncated gene product."

Illustrating the enormous power of genomic tools, Wiedemar et al. (2015) were able to identify a likely causal mutation for a previously unrecorded disease phenotype in just a single calf.

Bourneuf et al. (2017) detected COL6A3 g.117453719G>A; p.T1894M; omia.variant:1184 as a de novo recessive potentially lethal mutation from an analysis of whole-genome-sequence of a Holstein AI bull. No information was provided on the descendants of this bull.

By cloning and sequencing a very likely comparative candidate gene (based on the same disorder in humans), Shuster et al. (1992; PNAS) showed that this disorder in Holstein cattle is due to a missense mutation (c.383A>G) in the CD18 gene, now known as ITGB2. This mutation was confirmed in Daetwyler et al. (2014)'s analysis of whole-genome sequence data from 234 cattle, including key ancestors of the Holstein-Friesian, Fleckvieh and Jersey b...