Association between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in and Loci and Growth in Tibetan Sheep.

Silent information regulator 1 and 2 (, 2) were NAD+-dependent histone or non-histone deacetylase, which emerged as key metabolic sensors in several tissues of mammals. In the present study, the search for polymorphisms within the ovine and loci as well as association analyses between SNPs and growth-related traits were performed in Tibetan sheep. To determine the expression pattern of and genes in Tibetan sheep, the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis revealed that those two genes were widely expressed in diverse tissues. Expression of was less in abomasum of lamb, whereas it was greater in duodenum within adult stage. In the case of , the greatest expression was observed in reticulum (lamb) and in muscle (adult), whereas the least expression was in liver for lamb and in kidney for adult animals. The association analysis demonstrated that g.3148 C > T polymorphism of affected heart girth ( = 0.002). The g.8074 T > A SNP of had a significant correlation with body weight ( = 0.011) and body length ( = 0.008). These findings suggested that the and polymorphism was involved in growth-related traits in Tibetan sheep, which may be considered to be genetic markers for improving the growth traits of Tibetan sheep.