https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2239 A genome-wide association study of morphometric traits in dromedaries Bitaraf Sani, Morteza Morteza Bitaraf Sani Agricultural Research, Education & Extension Organization Naderi, Ali Shafei Ali Shafei Naderi Agricultural Research, Education & Extension Organization Kazemi, Ali Ali Kazemi Animal Breeding Center of Iran Zareh Harofteh, Javad Javad Zareh Harofteh Agricultural Research, Education & Extension Organization Asadzadeh, Nader Nader Asadzadeh Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization Mohajer, Mokhtar Mokhtar Mohajer Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization Roudbari, Zahra Zahra Roudbari University of Jiroft Javanmard, Arash Arash Javanmard University of Tabriz Burger, Pamela Anna Pamela Anna Burger 0000-0002-6941-0257 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Karimi, Omid Omid Karimi Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization Wiley text eng Investigating genomic regions associated with morphometric traits in camels is valuable, because it allows a better understanding of adaptive and productive features to implement a sustainable management and a customised breeding program for dromedaries.With a genome-wide association study (GWAS) including 96 Iranian dromedaries phenotyped for 12 morphometric traits and genotyped-by-sequencing (GBS) with 14,522 SNPs, we aimed at identifying associated candidate genes.The association between SNPs and morphometric traits was investigated using a linear mixed model with principal component analysis (PCA) and kinship matrix.With this approach, we detected 59 SNPs located in 37 candidate genes potentially associated to morphometric traits in dromedaries. The top associated SNPs were related to pin width, whither to pin length, height at whither, muzzle girth, and tail length. Interestingly, the results highlight the association between whither height, muzzle circumference, tail length, whither to pin length. The identified candidate genes were associated with growth, body size, and immune system in other species.We identified three key hub genes in the gene network analysis including ACTB, SOCS1 and ARFGEF1. In the central position of gene network, ACTB was detected as the most important gene related to muscle function. With this initial GWAS using GBS on dromedary camels for morphometric traits, we show that this SNP panel can be effective for genetic evaluation of growth in dromedaries. However, we suggest a higher-density SNP array may greatly improve the reliability of the results. Animals; Genome-Wide Association Studyveterinary; Camelus; Iran; Reproducibility of Results; Phenotype; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:2239/download 10.1002/vms3.1151 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:605 application/pdf Veterinary Medicine and Science 9(4), 1781-1790 (2023) Veterinary Medicine and Science 9 4 1781 1790 915.46 kB 2023