Abstract Classical mutant alleles (MAs), with large effects on phenotype, tend to be deleterious to traits and fitness. Is this the case for mutations with small effects? We infer MAs for 8 million sequence variants in 113k cattle and quantify the effects of MA on 37 complex traits. Heterozygosity for variants at genomic sites conserved across 100 vertebrates increase fertility, stature, and milk production, positively associating these traits with fitness. MAs decrease stature and fat and protein concentration in milk, but increase gestation length and somatic cell count in milk (the latter indicative of mastitis). However, the allele frequency of MAs that decrease fat and protein concentration and stature and increase gestation length and somatic cell count is lower than the allele frequency of MAs with the opposite effect. These results suggest bias in the direction of effect of mutation (e.g. towards reduced protein in milk), but selection operating to reduce the frequency of these MAs. Taken together, our results imply two classes of genomic sites subject to long-term selection: sites conserved across vertebrates show hybrid vigour while sites subject to less long-term selection show a bias in mutation towards alleles that are selected against.

Mutant alleles differentially shape cattle complex traits and fitness