Selection signature analysis reveals genes associated with tail type in Chinese indigenous sheep.
Fat-tailed sheep have commercial value because consumers prefer high-protein and low-fat food and producers care about feed conversion rate. However, fat-tailed sheep still have some scientific significance, as the fat tail is commonly regarded as a characteristic of environmental adaptability. Finding the candidate genes associated with fat tail formation is essential for breeding and conservation. To identify these candidate genes, we applied FST and hapFLK approaches in fat- and thin-tailed sheep with available 50K SNP genotype data. These two methods found 6.24 Mb of overlapped regions and 43 genes that may associated with fat tail development. Gene annotation showed that HOXA11, BMP2, PPP1CC, SP3, SP9, WDR92, PROKR1 and ETAA1 may play important roles in fat tail formation. These findings provide insight into tail fat development and a guide for molecular breeding and conservation.
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Yuan
School of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
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Liu
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Liu
CSIRO Agriculture Flagship, Brisbane, Australia.
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Kijas
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.|College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
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Zhu
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Hu
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Ma
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Zhang
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Du
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.|Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Wang
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Wei
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002681:China; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D034561:Sheep, Domestic / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics*; D013623:Tail / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
Fat tail; Genome-wide analysis; Tail type