Correlation between expression level of the bovine DNAJA1 gene and meat tenderness was recently
found in Charolais longissimus thoracis muscle samples,suggesting that this gene could play an important role in
meat tenderness. Here, we report the validation of polymorphisms within the bovine DNAJA1 gene, and the haplotype variability and extent of linkage disequilibrium in the three main French beef breeds (Blonde d’Aquitaine,Charolais, Limousin). Genotyping 18 putative SNPs revealed that 16 SNPs were polymorphic within the breeds tested. Two SNPs were removed from further analyses as