WGS of 3 cattle breeds from the northernmost cattle farming regions. Arctic Ark

Northern Fennoscandia and the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation represent the northernmost regions on Earth where cattle farming has been traditionally practiced. In this study, we performed whole-genome resequencing to genetically characterize three rare native breeds—Eastern Finncattle, Western Finncattle and Yakutian cattle— adapted to these northern Eurasian regions. We identified a number of genomic regions under selection that may have contributed to the adaptation to the northern and subarctic environments, including genes involved in disease resistance, sensory perception, cold adaptation and growth. By characterizing the native breeds, we were able to obtain new information on cattle genomes and on the value of the adapted breeds for the conservation of cattle genetic resources.