The Detection of a Functional 168 bp Deletion of the Gene Determining Short Tail and Its Association with Senior Growth Traits in Sheep Breeds Worldwide.

In recent years, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have uncovered that the gene is a key regulatory factor for the tail length trait of sheep. Further research has found that there is a functional 168 bp SINE element insertion upstream of the gene, which leads to the occurrence of long tails in sheep. However, the frequency of mutations in the 168 bp SINE element of the gene among different sheep breeds around the world and its relationship with growth traits are still unclear. This study used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data, including 588 samples from 33 different sheep breeds around the world, to evaluate the frequency of gene mutations in different sheep breeds globally. At the same time, this study also selected 3392 sheep samples from six breeds. The genetic variation in the 168 bp InDel locus in the gene was determined through genotyping, and its association with the growth traits of Luxi black-headed sheep was analyzed. The research results indicate that the polymorphism of the 168 bp InDel locus is significantly correlated with the hip width of adult ewes in the Luxi black-headed sheep breed ( < 0.05) and that the hip width of adult ewes with the DD genotype is significantly larger than that of adult ewes with the ID genotype ( < 0.05). This study indicates that there is consistency between the research results on the sheep tail length trait and growth traits, which may contribute to the promotion of sheep breed improvement.