GCRF-BBR: A compendium of structural variation across African cattle breeds

牛是全球低收入和中等收入国家经济的重要组成部分。它们是肉类和奶制品的来源，提供皮革和其他副产品，经常被用作工作动物。牛可以在不容易种植作物的地方放牧，提供粪便作为有效肥料，并可以将饲料转化为高蛋白食物。牛往往是低收入和中等收入国家个人拥有的最宝贵财产，但容易感染一系列传染病，这些疾病不仅给这些国家造成沉重的经济负担，而且往往还可以传染给人类。全球三分之二以上的牛生活在低收入和中等收入国家。因此，减少牛传染病的负担将对这些地区产生重大好处。然而，许多疾病没有疫苗或治疗方法。在有兽医服务的地方，糟糕的兽医服务通常意味着牲畜饲养者必须自己支付疫苗和治疗费用。因此，这些疾病是摆脱贫困的主要障碍。由于病原体和牛的共同进化，有许多牛品种表现出对重要传染病的天然耐受性或抵抗力。虽然这些品种的产量往往较低，使它们对低收入和中等收入国家农民的吸引力较低，但如果能够确定和利用其抗性背后的机制，那么就可以开发出生产率更高和耐受性更高的品种。同样，某些品种已被证明能更好地适应特定的环境条件。例如，某些品种能够更好地忍受极端温度和有限的饲料和水。结构变异（SVs），即动物基因组序列的巨大改变，已被认为与牲畜对环境的适应和对重要疾病的自然耐受性有关。尽管它们具有潜在的价值，但目前对牛中sv的全基因组定位知之甚少，在非洲牛品种中几乎一无所知。非洲本土的牛特别适应非洲的环境和病原体，其结构变异被认为是许多重要特征的基础。了解非洲牛品种结构变异的位置将使研究人员能够确定它们的功能后果并制定更好的育种计划。在这个项目中，我们将开发一个以非洲牛品种为重点的结构变异数据库，以便研究它们在形成重要表型方面的作用。

Cattle are a vital component of the economies of low and middle income countries across the globe. They are a source of meat and dairy products, provide leather and other by-products and are often used as working animals. Cattle can be grazed where crops are not easily grown, provide manure as effective fertiliser and can convert forage into high-protein food. Often cattle are the most valuable possession individuals in low and middle income countries own, but are susceptible to a range of infectious diseases, which not only inflict a heavy economic burden on these countries but can also often be transmissible to humans.Over two-thirds of the global cattle population are in low and middle income countries. Reducing the burden of cattle infectious diseases would consequently have major benefits to these areas. However for many diseases no vaccine or treatment is available. Where they are available, poor veterinary services generally mean the livestock keepers must pay for vaccines and treatments themselves. Consequently these diseases are major barriers to escaping poverty. Due to the co-evolution of pathogens and cattle there are various examples of cattle breeds that show natural tolerance or resistance to important infectious diseases. Although these breeds are often less productive, making them less attractive to LMIC farmers, if the mechanisms underlying their resistance could be identified and harnessed, then breeds of both higher productivity and tolerance could be developed. Likewise certain breeds have been shown to be better adapted to particular environmental conditions. With certain breeds better able to tolerate extreme temperatures and limited access to feed and water for example.Structural variants (SVs), large alterations in an animal's genome sequence, have been linked in livestock to adaptation to environments and natural tolerance to important diseases. Despite their potential value, little is currently known about the genome-wide location of SVs in cattle and almost nothing in African cattle breeds. Native African cattle are particularly well adapted to African environments and pathogens, with structural variants expected to underlie many such important traits. Knowledge of the location of structural variants in African cattle breeds will enable researchers to determine their functional consequences and develop better breeding programs. In this project we will develop a database of structural variants focused on African cattle breeds to enable studies of their role in shaping important phenotypes.