Yaman Yalçın, Doğan Şükrü, Kirbaş Mesut, Önaldi A Taner, Kal Yavuz
Department of Genetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Siirt University, Siirt, 56000, Turkey.
Bahri Dagtas International Agricultural Research Institute, Konya, 42000, Turkey.
BMC Vet Res. 2024 Dec 19;20(1):567. doi: 10.1186/s12917-024-04428-7.
This study explored the genetic basis of growth traits in Middle Anatolian Merino lambs using multi-locus genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses. Descriptive statistics indicated moderate heritability (h² = 0.363) for birth weight (BW) and (h² = 0.309) for weaning weight (WW), both statistically significant (p < 0.001). Strong genetic correlations were observed between WW and BW (rG = 0.922) and WW and Kleiber ratio (KR, rG = 0.896), implying that simultaneous improvements may be possible through targeted selection. Five multi-locus methods (mrMLM, FASTmrMLM, pLARmEB, FASTmrEMMA, and ISIS EM-BLASSO) were used to identify the polygenic basis of the traits. For BW and WW, 20 and 18 significant SNPs (LOD ≥ 5) were detected, respectively, with some SNPs co-detected by multiple methods. In contrast, only 10 significant SNPs were identified for KR, all exclusively by the ISIS EM-BLASSO approach. Pathway analyses within ± 100 Kb of associated SNPs revealed genes and pathways influencing these traits, which could be leveraged in future breeding programs for enhanced growth performance. The identified SNPs, particularly those associated with BW and WW traits, could facilitate genomic selection if validated in larger and more diverse populations.
本研究采用多位点全基因组关联研究（GWAS）分析方法，探究了安纳托利亚中部美利奴羊羔生长性状的遗传基础。描述性统计表明，出生体重（BW）的遗传力适中（h² = 0.363），断奶体重（WW）的遗传力为（h² = 0.309），两者均具有统计学意义（p < 0.001）。观察到WW与BW（rG = 0.922）以及WW与克莱伯比率（KR，rG = 0.896）之间存在强遗传相关性，这意味着通过定向选择有可能同时提高这些性状。使用了五种多位点方法（mrMLM、FASTmrMLM、pLARmEB、FASTmrEMMA和ISIS EM-BLASSO）来确定这些性状的多基因基础。对于BW和WW，分别检测到20个和18个显著的单核苷酸多态性（SNP，LOD≥5），有些SNP被多种方法共同检测到。相比之下，仅为KR鉴定出10个显著的SNP，均仅通过ISIS EM-BLASSO方法鉴定。对相关SNP上下游±100 Kb范围内的通路分析揭示了影响这些性状的基因和通路，这些基因和通路可用于未来的育种计划以提高生长性能。如果在更大且更多样化的群体中得到验证，所鉴定出的SNP，特别是那些与BW和WW性状相关的SNP，可促进基因组选择。
