The State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Regulation and Breeding of Grassland Livestock, The Research Center for Laboratory Animal Science, School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010070, China.
Institute of Animal Science, Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Hohhot 010018, China.
Genes (Basel). 2020 Mar 30;11(4):375. doi: 10.3390/genes11040375.
Litter size is an economically important trait in sheep breeding. The objectives of this study were as follows: (1) to ascertain if any of the 19 known variants in the , 5, and genes are present and associated with the litter size of Mongolia sheep; (2) to identify novel variants in and perform association analysis; and (3) to validate the effects of these promoter variants on the activity of the gene. The results of the 19 known variants showed that the affected the litter size of Mongolia sheep ( < 0.001). The association analysis results of novel variants showed that the (GenBank accession: NC_040256, the same below) in the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR), the (Phe347Ser) in the exon 2, and the SNP in the promotor of were significantly associated with litter size of Mongolia ewes ( < 0.01, < 0.05, and < 0.001, respectively). In addition, the promoter activity analysis showed that the allele at the -332 position () could decrease luciferase activity compared with the allele ( < 0.01). Our findings may facilitate effective marker-assisted selection to increase litter size in Mongolia sheep populations, as well as bring new insights into expression.
产仔数是绵羊育种中一个重要的经济性状。本研究的目的如下：（1）确定 5 和 基因中 19 个已知变异是否存在，并与蒙古绵羊的产仔数相关；（2）鉴定 基因中的新变异，并进行关联分析；（3）验证这些 启动子变异对基因活性的影响。19 个已知变异的结果表明， 影响了蒙古绵羊的产仔数（ < 0.001）。新变异的关联分析结果表明，3'非翻译区（3'UTR）中的 （GenBank 登录号：NC_040256，下同）、外显子 2 中的 （Phe347Ser）和 启动子中的 SNP 与蒙古母羊的产仔数显著相关（ < 0.01、< 0.05 和 < 0.001，分别）。此外， 启动子活性分析表明，-332 位（）的 等位基因与 等位基因相比，可降低荧光素酶活性（ < 0.01）。我们的研究结果可能有助于对蒙古绵羊群体进行有效的标记辅助选择，以增加产仔数，并为 基因的表达提供新的见解。
