Chessari Giorgio, Criscione Andrea, Tolone Marco, Bordonaro Salvatore, Rizzuto Ilaria, Riggio Silvia, Macaluso Vito, Moscarelli Angelo, Portolano Baldassare, Sardina Maria Teresa, Mastrangelo Salvatore
Dipartimento Agricoltura, Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Front Vet Sci. 2023 May 2;10:1127354. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1127354. eCollection 2023.
Among livestock species, sheep have played an early major role in the Mediterranean area. Italy has a long history of sheep breeding and, despite a dramatic contraction in numbers, still raise several local populations that may represent a unique source of genetic diversity. The Noticiana is a breed of the south-eastern part of Sicily appreciated both for its dairy products and for its resistance to harsh environment. In this study, the high-density Illumina Ovine SNP600K BeadChip array was used for the first genome-wide characterization of 48 individuals of Noticiana sheep to investigate its diversity, the genome structure and the relationship within the context of worldwide and Italian breeds. Moreover, the runs of homozygosity (ROH) pattern and the pairwise -outliers were examined. Noticiana reported moderate levels of genetic diversity. The high percentage of short and medium length ROH segments (93% under 4 Mb) is indicative of a within breed relatedness dating back to ancient times, despite the absence of management for the mating plans and the reduced population size. In the worldwide context, the Southern Italian, Spanish and Albanian breeds overlapped in a macro cluster which also included the Noticiana sheep. The results highlighted ancestral genetic components of Noticiana shared with Comisana breed, and showed the clear separation from the other Italian sheep. This is likely the consequence of the combined effects of genetic drift, small population size and reproductive isolation. ROH islands and -outliers approaches in Noticiana identified genes and QTLs involved in milk and meat production, as well as related to the local adaptation, and therefore are consistent with the phenotypic traits of the studied breed. Although a wider sampling could be useful to deepen the genomic survey on Noticiana, these results represent a crucial starting point for the characterization of an important local genetic resource, with a view of supporting the local economy and preserving the biodiversity of the sheep species.
在牲畜物种中，绵羊在地中海地区很早就发挥了重要作用。意大利有着悠久的绵羊养殖历史，尽管数量急剧减少，但仍饲养着几个当地品种，这些品种可能是独特的遗传多样性来源。诺蒂奇亚纳羊是西西里岛东南部的一个品种，因其乳制品和对恶劣环境的抵抗力而受到赞赏。在本研究中，首次使用高密度Illumina绵羊SNP600K BeadChip芯片对48只诺蒂奇亚纳羊进行全基因组特征分析，以研究其多样性、基因组结构以及在全球和意大利品种背景下的关系。此外，还检查了纯合子片段（ROH）模式和成对异常值。诺蒂奇亚纳羊的遗传多样性处于中等水平。短和中等长度ROH片段的高比例（4 Mb以下的占93%）表明，尽管没有交配计划管理且种群规模缩小，但该品种内部的亲缘关系可追溯到古代。在全球范围内，意大利南部、西班牙和阿尔巴尼亚的品种在一个大簇中重叠，其中也包括诺蒂奇亚纳羊。结果突出了诺蒂奇亚纳羊与科米萨纳品种共有的祖先遗传成分，并表明其与其他意大利绵羊明显分离。这可能是遗传漂变、种群规模小和生殖隔离共同作用的结果。诺蒂奇亚纳羊的ROH岛和异常值方法确定了参与牛奶和肉类生产以及与当地适应性相关的基因和QTL，因此与所研究品种的表型特征一致。尽管更广泛的采样可能有助于深化对诺蒂奇亚纳羊的基因组调查，但这些结果代表了对重要当地遗传资源进行特征描述的关键起点，以期支持当地经济并保护绵羊物种的生物多样性。
