College of Animal Science, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Gongzhuling, Jilin, China.
Anim Genet. 2022 Apr;53(2):224-229. doi: 10.1111/age.13173. Epub 2022 Jan 31.
The South African Mutton Merino (SAMM), a dual-purpose (meat and wool) sheep breed, is characterized by its excellent performance on growth, carcass traits and meat quality compared to other fine-wool Merino breeds. Nowadays, the SAMM breed has been widely used to cross with commercial and indigenous fine-wool or coarse-wool breeds to improve the growth and meat performance in many countries. To date, however, little is known about the genetic basis for its prominent characteristics. In this study, whole-genome sequences of 10 SAMM were sequenced and the selection signatures were analyzed together with those of 39 Australian Merino and Chinese Merino (wool-type Merino) by F , iHS, and XP-EHH methods. In total, 313 genes in 277 regions were identified by at least 2 methods with the signal of selection and 21 of them were identified by all three methods. We highlighted a list of interesting genes, including GHR, LCORL, SMO, NCAPG, DCC, IBSP, PPARGC1A, PACRGL, PRDM5, XYLB, AHCYL2, TEFM, AFG1L, and FAM184B, which have been shown to be involved in growth, carcass traits, and meat quality by previous studies. Herein, GHR, encoding a transmembrane receptor for growth hormone, is the most notable one. We report the first study on selection signatures analysis of SAMM at whole-genome sequence level. These results provide new insights into the genetic mechanisms underlying the growth and carcass traits in SAMM.
南非美利奴羊（SAMM）是一种肉毛兼用型绵羊品种，与其他细毛美利奴品种相比，其在生长性能、胴体性状和肉质方面表现优异。如今，SAMM 品种已广泛用于与商业和本地细毛或粗毛品种杂交，以提高许多国家的生长和肉质性能。然而，迄今为止，人们对其突出特点的遗传基础知之甚少。在这项研究中，对 10 只 SAMM 进行了全基因组测序，并与 39 只澳大利亚美利奴羊和中国美利奴羊（毛用美利奴羊）一起使用 F 、 iHS 和 XP-EHH 方法分析了选择信号。总共通过至少 2 种方法鉴定了 277 个区域中的 313 个基因具有选择信号，其中 21 个基因通过 3 种方法都被鉴定出来。我们强调了一系列有趣的基因，包括 GHR、LCORL、SMO、NCAPG、DCC、IBSP、PPARGC1A、PACRGL、PRDM5、XYLB、AHCYL2、TEFM、AFG1L 和 FAM184B，这些基因以前的研究表明与生长、胴体性状和肉质质量有关。在此，GHR 编码生长激素的跨膜受体，是最显著的一个。我们报告了首次对 SAMM 进行全基因组序列水平的选择信号分析研究。这些结果为 SAMM 生长和胴体性状的遗传机制提供了新的见解。
