An Epigenetic Aging Clock for Cattle Using Portable Sequencing Technology.

ABSTRACT: Extensively grazed cattle are often mustered only once a year. Therefore, birthdates are typically unknown or inaccurate. Birthdates would be useful for deriving important traits (growth rate; calving interval), breed registrations, and making management decisions. Epigenetic clocks use methylation of DNA to predict an individual's age. An epigenetic clock for cattle could provide a solution to the challenges of industry birthdate recording. Here we derived the first epigenetic clock for tropically adapted cattle using portable sequencing devices from tail hair, a tissue which is widely used in industry for genotyping. Cattle (n = 66) with ages ranging from 0.35 to 15.7 years were sequenced using Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION and methylation was called at CpG sites across the

SUBMITTER: Hayes BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8637324 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature