Detection of genetic variants in TNF and PTPRT genes in goats and correlation with the risk of brucellosis infections.

Brucella, an intracellular facultative coccidia, causes brucellosis, which poses a significant threat to livestock farming and public health, and screening for candidate genes associated with resistance to brucellosis is considered an effective strategy for controlling the transmission and infection of this disease. In this context, we detected InDel genetic variants of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor T (PTPRT) genes in the Shaanbei White Cashmere (SWBC) goat and analyzed the correlation between their polymorphisms and the risk of brucellosis infection in goats. The results indicated that the TNF rs669191919 and PTPRT rs639317914 loci were polymorphic in the examined goat populations. Both loci exhibited a 13 bp InDel deletion and resulted in three genotypes: insertion/insertion (II), insertion/deletion (ID), and deletion/deletion (DD), with II genotypes and I alleles occurring at higher frequencies. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values suggested that both InDel variant loci were moderately polymorphic (0.25 < PIC <0.50). Furthermore, association analysis revealed that none of the four established genetic models codominant, dominant, recessive, and allele showed an association between the polymorphisms at the rs669191919 and rs639317914 loci and the risk of brucellosis in goats (P > 0.05). Bioinformatics analyses indicated that the rs669191919 and rs639317914 loci specifically bind to the transcription factors upstream transcription factor 1 (USF1) and nescient helix-loop-helix 1 (NHLH1), respectively. In summary, our findings suggest that polymorphisms at the TNF rs669191919 and PTPRT rs639317914 loci do not influence resistance to brucellosis in goats. However, investigations into the specific binding of these polymorphic loci to transcription factors may represent a novel avenue for exploring the mechanisms underlying resistance to brucellosis in livestock.