Patent ID: 7879552

Claim:
A method for identifying a bovine animal having a thinner subcutaneous fat depth (SFD), a lower skeletal muscle lipid accumulation (SMLA), a lower estimated stearoyl-CoA desaturase 16:1/16:0×100% value (R2), a lower estimated stearoyl-CoA desaturase 18:1/18:0×100% value (R3), a lower amount of beef fat monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), or a combination thereof, said method comprising: (a) obtaining a biological sample from said bovine animal, said biological sample comprising nucleic acids encoding the bovine ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase core protein I (UQCRC1) gene from said bovine; (b) detecting in said nucleic acids the presence of at least one of: (i) a C in at least one allele of the UQCRC1 gene at a position corresponding to 281 of SEQ ID NO: 1; (ii) a C in both alleles of the UQCRC1 gene at a position corresponding to 281 of SEQ ID NO: 1; (iii) a T in at least one allele of the UQCRC1 gene at a position corresponding to 465 of SEQ ID NO: 1; and (iv) a T in both alleles of the UQCRC 1 gene at position corresponding to 465 of SEQ ID NO: 1; and c) correlating the presence of the nucleic acid content detected in step (b) with a thicker SFD, a higher SMLA, a higher R2, a higher R3, a higher beef fat MUFA, or a combination thereof in said bovine animal, wherein: the content detected in step (b)(i) is associated with lower R2, lower R3, and lower beef fat MUFA; the content detected in step (b)(ii) is associated with thinner SFD and lower SMLA; the content detected in step (b)(iii) is associated with lower R2, lower R3, and lower beef fat MUFA; and the content detected in step (b)(iv) is associated with thinner SFD and lower SMLA.