Characterization of the bovine gene LIPE and possible influence on fatty acid composition of meat

LIPE is an intracellular neutral lipase, which is capable of hydrolyzing a variety of esters and plays a key role in the mobilization of fatty acids from diacylglycerols. The objectives of this study were to characterize the genetic polymorphism of bovine LIPE gene and to evaluate the possible association between three SNPs in the coding regions of this gene with the fatty acid composition ofmeat in a cattle population. Forty-three unrelated animals fromdifferent cattle breedswere re-sequenced and 21 SNPs were detected over approximately 2600 bp, five of these SNPswere novel. Three SNPs were selected, on the basis of evolutionary conservation, to perform validation and association studies in a crossbred cattle population. Our resultsmay suggest a possible association of SNP1with contents of oleic acid and total monounsaturated fatty acids (p < 0.01), and SNP2 and SNP3 with Heneicosylic acid content (p < 0.01), may be helpful to improve the quality of meat and improve health. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.