Yang Sen, An Lin, Dong Pengda, Zhang Ming, Cao Guifang, Baoying Taogetao, Da Lai, Li Changqing, Tong Bin
The State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Regulation and Breeding of Grassland Livestock, School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010020, China.
Inner Mongolia Mengyuan Sheep Breeding Company, Baotou 014016, China.
Vet Sci. 2025 Sep 6;12(9):868. doi: 10.3390/vetsci12090868.
Increasing the litter size in sheep is a primary objective in breeding programs, driving sustained interest in identifying candidate functional genes and molecular markers associated with fecundity. The known FecD mutation in the gene has been shown to regulate reproductive traits by influencing the ovulation rate of Davisdale sheep. However, the relationship between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the and litter size remains unknown in Gobi short tail sheep and Sonid sheep. In this research, we found one novel variant and thirteen known variants through direct sequencing in Sonid sheep and Gobi short tail sheep and performed an association study in a large-scale population. The association analysis identified two SNPs (c.240C>T (rs159694506) and c.279C>T (rs159694508)) with significant litter size associations in Gobi short tail sheep ( < 0.01 ). In Sonid sheep, the c.240C>T (rs159694506), c.279C>T (rs159694508), g.41249772C>T (rs412130067), g.41249873A>C (rs425490800), g.41250357T>C (rs424307284), and g.41250358T>C (rs404651806) SNPs were significantly associated with litter size ( < 0.05 ). In addition, in GB sheep, the frequency of the litter-size-associated C allele at the c.240C>T (rs159694506) and c.279C>T (rs159694508) variants were significantly lower than that in Sonid sheep (SN), Mongolia sheep (MG), Ujimqin sheep (UM), Tan sheep (Tan), Hu sheep (Hu), and Small-tailed Han sheep (STH) populations. In SN sheep, the frequency of the litter-size-associated C allele at the c.240C>T (rs159694506) and c.279C>T (rs159694508) variant was significantly lower than that in the DPU. These findings provided valuable molecular markers pertinent to the fecundity of sheep, offering scientific evidence for the genetic improvement of these breeds.
提高绵羊产羔数是育种计划的主要目标，这促使人们持续关注识别与繁殖力相关的候选功能基因和分子标记。已知该基因中的FecD突变通过影响戴维斯代尔羊的排卵率来调节繁殖性状。然而，在戈壁短尾羊和苏尼特羊中，该基因的单核苷酸多态性（SNP）与产羔数之间的关系尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们通过直接测序在苏尼特羊和戈壁短尾羊中发现了一个新变异和13个已知变异，并在大规模群体中进行了关联研究。关联分析在戈壁短尾羊中鉴定出两个与产羔数显著相关的SNP（c.240C>T（rs159694506）和c.279C>T（rs159694508））（P<0.01）。在苏尼特羊中，c.240C>T（rs159694506）、c.279C>T（rs159694508）、g.41249772C>T（rs412130067）、g.41249873A>C（rs425490800）、g.41250357T>C（rs424307284）和g.41250358T>C（rs404651806）SNP与产羔数显著相关（P<0.05）。此外，在GB羊中，c.240C>T（rs159694506）和c.279C>T（rs159694508）变异位点上与产羔数相关的C等位基因频率显著低于苏尼特羊（SN）、蒙古羊（MG）、乌珠穆沁羊（UM）、滩羊（Tan）、湖羊（Hu）和小尾寒羊（STH）群体。在SN羊中，c.240C>T（rs159694506）和c.279C>T（rs159694508）变异位点上与产羔数相关的C等位基因频率显著低于DPU。这些发现为绵羊繁殖力提供了有价值的分子标记，为这些品种的遗传改良提供了科学依据。
