Effect of the leptin c.73T>C mutation on carcass traits in beef cattle

The effect of c.73T>C SNP on meat traits (average daily gain, dressing percentage, intramuscular fat content, marbling and perirenal adipocyte area) was investigated in the Blonde d’Aquitaine breed. The LEP:c.73C allele was significantly associated with higher ADG, lower dressing percentage and higher marbling, with substitution effects corresponding to 0.66, 0.43 and 0.51 phenotypic standard deviation respectively. The effect on ADG is worth noting, because that trait was not considered in the previous studies, although there are the interactions between leptin and growth hormone. The results of this investigation indicate that LEP gene deserves further study in the Blonde d’Aquitaine breed.