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Rarámuri Criollo (RC) cattle have been raised by the isolated Tarahumara communities of Chihuahua, Mexico, for nearly 500 years, mostly under natural selection and minimal management. RC cattle were introduced to the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Jornada Experimental Range (RCJER) in 2005 to begin evaluations of beef production performance and their adaptation to the harsh ecological and climatic conditions of the Northern Chihuahuan Desert. While this research unveiled crucial information on their phenotypic plasticity and adaptation, the genetic diversity and structure of the RCJER population remains poorly understood. This study analyzed the genetic diversity, population structure, ancestral composition, and selection signatures of the RCJER herd using a ~64 K SNP array. The RCJER herd exhibits moderate genetic diversity and low population stratification with no evident clustering, suggesting a shared genetic background among different subfamilies. Admixture analysis revealed the RCJER herd represents a distinctive genetic pool within the Criollo cattle breeds, with significant Iberian ancestry. Selection signatures identified candidate genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL) for traits associated with milk composition, growth, meat and carcass, reproduction, metabolic homeostasis, health, and coat color. The RCJER population represents a distinctive genetic resource adapted to harsh environmental conditions while maintaining productive and reproductive attributes. These findings are crucial to ensuring the long-term genetic conservation of the RCJER and their strategic expansion into locally adapted beef production systems in the USA.
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; Utsumi, Santiago A 1
; Armstrong, Eileen M 2
; Rodríguez Almeida Felipe A. 3
; Ross, Pablo J 4 ; Macon Lara 5
; Jara Eugenio 2 ; Cox, Andrew 1 ; Perea, Andrés R 1
; Funk, Micah 1 ; Redd, Matthew 6 ; Cibils, Andrés F 7
; Spiegal, Sheri A 5 ; Estell, Richard E 5 1 Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA; [email protected] (S.A.U.); [email protected] (A.C.); [email protected] (A.R.P.); [email protected] (M.F.)
2 Unidad de Genética y Mejora Animal, Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 10129, Uruguay; [email protected] (E.M.A.); [email protected] (E.J.)
3 Facultad de Zootecnia y Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Chihuahua 31453, Mexico; [email protected]
4 Inguran LLC Dba STgenetics, Navasota, TX 77868, USA; [email protected]
5 USDA Agricultural Research Service Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA; [email protected] (L.M.); [email protected] (S.A.S.)
6 Dugout Ranch/Canyonlands Research Center, The Nature Conservancy, Monticello, UT 84535, USA; [email protected]
7 USDA Southern Plains Climate Hub, Oklahoma and Central Plains Agricultural Research Center, El Reno, OK 73036, USA; [email protected]