A Genome-wide Association Study Identifies a Genomic Region for the Polycerate Phenotype in Sheep (Ovis Aries)

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2016 Feb 18

PMID 26883901

Citations 16

Authors

Xue Ren

Guang-Li Yang

Wei-Feng Peng

Yong-Xin Zhao

Min Zhang

Ze-Hui Chen

Fu-An Wu

Juha Kantanen

Min Shen

Meng-Hua Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Horns are a cranial appendage found exclusively in Bovidae, and play important roles in accessing resources and mates. In sheep (Ovies aries), horns vary from polled to six-horned, and human have been selecting polled animals in farming and breeding. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study on 24 two-horned versus 22 four-horned phenotypes in a native Chinese breed of Sishui Fur sheep. Together with linkage disequilibrium (LD) analyses and haplotype-based association tests, we identified a genomic region comprising 132.0-133.1 Mb on chromosome 2 that contained the top 10 SNPs (including 4 significant SNPs) and 5 most significant haplotypes associated with the polycerate phenotype. In humans and mice, this genomic region contains the HOXD gene cluster and adjacent functional genes EVX2 and KIAA1715, which have a close association with the formation of limbs and genital buds. Our results provide new insights into the genetic basis underlying variable numbers of horns and represent a new resource for use in sheep genetics and breeding.

Citing Articles

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