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Li C, Wang X, Li H, Ahmed Z, Luo Y, Qin M, Yang Q, Long Z, Lei C, Yi K. Whole-genome resequencing reveals diversity and selective signals in the Wuxue goat. Anim Genet 2024; 55:575-587. [PMID: 38806279 DOI: 10.1111/age.13437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 04/14/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024]
Abstract
Animal genetic resources are crucial for ensuring global food security. However, in recent years, a noticeable decline in the genetic diversity of livestock has occurred worldwide. This decline is pronounced in developing countries, where the management of these resources is insufficient. In the current study, we performed whole genome sequencing for 20 Wuxue (WX) and five Guizhou White (GW) goats. Additionally, we utilized the published genomes of 131 samples representing five different goat breeds from various regions in China. We investigated and compared the genetic diversity and selection signatures of WX goats. Whole genome sequencing analysis of the WX and GW populations yielded 120 425 063 SNPs, which resided primarily in intergenic and intron regions. Population genetic structure revealed that WX exhibited genetic resemblance to GW, Chengdu Brown, and Jintang Black and significant differentiation from the other goat breeds. In addition, three methods (nucleotide diversity, linkage disequilibrium decay, and runs of homozygosity) showed moderate genetic diversity in WX goats. We used nucleotide diversity and composite likelihood ratio methods to identify within-breed signatures of positive selection in WX goats. A total of 369 genes were identified using both detection methods, including genes related to reproduction (GRID2, ZNF276, TCF25, and SPIRE2), growth (HMGA2 and GJA3), and immunity (IRF3 and SRSF3). Overall, this study explored the adaptability of WX goats, shedding light on their genetic richness and potential to thrive in challenges posed by climatic changes and diseases. Further investigations are warranted to harness these insights to enhance more efficient and sustainable goat breeding initiatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanqing Li
- Hunan Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Xianglin Wang
- Animal Husbandry and Aquatic Products Affairs Center of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Jishou, China
| | - Haobang Li
- Hunan Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science, Changsha, China
| | - Zulfiqar Ahmed
- Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Poonch Rawalakot, Rawalakot, Pakistan
| | - Yang Luo
- Hunan Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science, Changsha, China
| | - Mao Qin
- Animal Husbandry and Aquatic Products Affairs Center of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Jishou, China
| | - Qiong Yang
- Animal Husbandry and Aquatic Products Affairs Center of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Jishou, China
| | - Zhangcheng Long
- Animal Husbandry and Aquatic Products Affairs Center of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Jishou, China
| | - Chuzhao Lei
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Kangle Yi
- Hunan Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science, Changsha, China
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Gmel AI, Mikko S, Ricard A, Velie BD, Gerber V, Hamilton NA, Neuditschko M. Using high-density SNP data to unravel the origin of the Franches-Montagnes horse breed. Genet Sel Evol 2024; 56:53. [PMID: 38987703 PMCID: PMC11238448 DOI: 10.1186/s12711-024-00922-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Franches-Montagnes (FM) is the last native horse breed of Switzerland, established at the end of the 19th century by cross-breeding local mares with Anglo-Norman stallions. We collected high-density SNP genotype data (Axiom™ 670 K Equine genotyping array) from 522 FM horses, including 44 old-type horses (OF), 514 European Warmblood horses (WB) from Sweden and Switzerland (including a stallion used for cross-breeding in 1990), 136 purebred Arabians (AR), 32 Shagya Arabians (SA), and 64 Thoroughbred (TB) horses, as introgressed WB stallions showed TB origin in their pedigrees. The aim of the study was to ascertain fine-scale population structures of the FM breed, including estimation of individual admixture levels and genomic inbreeding (FROH) by means of Runs of Homozygosity. RESULTS To assess fine-scale population structures within the FM breed, we applied a three-step approach, which combined admixture, genetic contribution, and FROH of individuals into a high-resolution network visualization. Based on this approach, we were able to demonstrate that population substructures, as detected by model-based clustering, can be either associated with a different genetic origin or with the progeny of most influential sires. Within the FM breed, admixed horses explained most of the genetic variance of the current breeding population, while OF horses only accounted for a small proportion of the variance. Furthermore, we illustrated that FM horses showed high TB admixture levels and we identified inconsistencies in the origin of FM horses descending from the Arabian stallion Doktryner. With the exception of WB, FM horses were less inbred compared to the other breeds. However, the relatively few but long ROH segments suggested diversity loss in both FM subpopulations. Genes located in FM- and OF-specific ROH islands had known functions involved in conformation and behaviour, two traits that are highly valued by breeders. CONCLUSIONS The FM remains the last native Swiss breed, clearly distinguishable from other historically introgressed breeds, but it suffered bottlenecks due to intensive selection of stallions, restrictive mating choices based on arbitrary definitions of pure breeding, and selection of rare coat colours. To preserve the genetic diversity of FM horses, future conservation managements strategies should involve a well-balanced selection of stallions (e.g., by integrating OF stallions in the FM breeding population) and avoid selection for rare coat colours.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annik Imogen Gmel
- Animal GenoPhenomics, Agroscope, Route de la Tioleyre 4, 1725, Posieux, Switzerland
- Equine Department, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8053, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sofia Mikko
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7023, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Anne Ricard
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine de Vilvert, 78350, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Brandon D Velie
- Equine Genetics and Genomics Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, RMC Gunn B19-603, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Vinzenz Gerber
- Institut Suisse de Médecine Equine ISME, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Länggassstrasse 124, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Natasha Anne Hamilton
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Markus Neuditschko
- Animal GenoPhenomics, Agroscope, Route de la Tioleyre 4, 1725, Posieux, Switzerland.
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Davoudi P, Do DN, Rathgeber B, Colombo S, Sargolzaei M, Plastow G, Wang Z, Miar Y. Identification of consensus homozygous regions and their associations with growth and feed efficiency traits in American mink. BMC Genom Data 2024; 25:68. [PMID: 38982354 PMCID: PMC11234557 DOI: 10.1186/s12863-024-01252-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/11/2024] Open
Abstract
The recent chromosome-based genome assembly and the newly developed 70K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array for American mink (Neogale vison) facilitate the identification of genetic variants underlying complex traits in this species. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between consensus runs of homozygosity (ROH) with growth and feed efficiency traits in American mink. A subsample of two mink populations (n = 2,986) were genotyped using the Affymetrix Mink 70K SNP array. The identified ROH segments were included simultaneously, concatenated into consensus regions, and the ROH-based association studies were carried out with linear mixed models considering a genomic relationship matrix for 11 growth and feed efficiency traits implemented in ASReml-R version 4. In total, 298,313 ROH were identified across all individuals, with an average length and coverage of 4.16 Mb and 414.8 Mb, respectively. After merging ROH segments, 196 consensus ROH regions were detected and used for genome-wide ROH-based association analysis. Thirteen consensus ROH regions were significantly (P < 0.01) associated with growth and feed efficiency traits. Several candidate genes within the significant regions are known for their involvement in growth and body size development, including MEF2A, ADAMTS17, POU3F2, and TYRO3. In addition, we found ten consensus ROH regions, defined as ROH islands, with frequencies over 80% of the population. These islands harbored 12 annotated genes, some of which were related to immune system processes such as DTX3L, PARP9, PARP14, CD86, and HCLS1. This is the first study to explore the associations between homozygous regions with growth and feed efficiency traits in American mink. Our findings shed the light on the effects of homozygosity in the mink genome on growth and feed efficiency traits, that can be utilized in developing a sustainable breeding program for mink.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pourya Davoudi
- Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS, Canada
| | - Duy Ngoc Do
- Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS, Canada
| | - Bruce Rathgeber
- Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS, Canada
| | - Stefanie Colombo
- Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS, Canada
| | - Mehdi Sargolzaei
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
- Select Sires Inc, Plain City, OH, USA
| | - Graham Plastow
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, Livestock Gentec, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Zhiquan Wang
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, Livestock Gentec, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Younes Miar
- Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS, Canada.
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Fonseca PAS, Suárez-Vega A, Arranz JJ, Gutiérrez-Gil B. Integration of selective sweeps across the sheep genome: understanding the relationship between production and adaptation traits. Genet Sel Evol 2024; 56:40. [PMID: 38773423 PMCID: PMC11106937 DOI: 10.1186/s12711-024-00910-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Livestock populations are under constant selective pressure for higher productivity levels for different selective purposes. This pressure results in the selection of animals with unique adaptive and production traits. The study of genomic regions associated with these unique characteristics has the potential to improve biological knowledge regarding the adaptive process and how it is connected to production levels and resilience, which is the ability of an animal to adapt to stress or an imbalance in homeostasis. Sheep is a species that has been subjected to several natural and artificial selective pressures during its history, resulting in a highly specialized species for production and adaptation to challenging environments. Here, the data from multiple studies that aim at mapping selective sweeps across the sheep genome associated with production and adaptation traits were integrated to identify confirmed selective sweeps (CSS). RESULTS In total, 37 studies were used to identify 518 CSS across the sheep genome, which were classified as production (147 prodCSS) and adaptation (219 adapCSS) CSS based on the frequency of each type of associated study. The genes within the CSS were associated with relevant biological processes for adaptation and production. For example, for adapCSS, the associated genes were related to the control of seasonality, circadian rhythm, and thermoregulation. On the other hand, genes associated with prodCSS were related to the control of feeding behaviour, reproduction, and cellular differentiation. In addition, genes harbouring both prodCSS and adapCSS showed an interesting association with lipid metabolism, suggesting a potential role of this process in the regulation of pleiotropic effects between these classes of traits. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the genetic link between productivity and adaptability in sheep breeds. This information may provide insights into the genetic mechanisms that underlie undesirable genetic correlations between these two groups of traits and pave the way for a better understanding of resilience as a positive ability to respond to environmental stressors, where the negative effects on production level are minimized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo A S Fonseca
- Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana S/N, 24071, León, Spain
| | - Aroa Suárez-Vega
- Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana S/N, 24071, León, Spain
| | - Juan J Arranz
- Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana S/N, 24071, León, Spain
| | - Beatriz Gutiérrez-Gil
- Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana S/N, 24071, León, Spain.
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Zhong T, Hou D, Zhao Q, Zhan S, Wang L, Li L, Zhang H, Zhao W, Yang S, Niu L. Comparative whole-genome resequencing to uncover selection signatures linked to litter size in Hu Sheep and five other breeds. BMC Genomics 2024; 25:480. [PMID: 38750582 PMCID: PMC11094944 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10396-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Hu sheep (HS), a breed of sheep carrying the FecB mutation gene, is known for its "year-round estrus and multiple births" and is an ideal model for studying the high fecundity mechanisms of livestock. Through analyzing and comparing the genomic selection features of Hu sheep and other sheep breeds, we identified a series of candidate genes that may play a role in Hu sheep's high fecundity mechanisms. In this study, we conducted whole-genome resequencing on six breeds and screened key mutations significantly correlated with high reproductive traits in sheep. Notably, the CC2D1B gene was selected by the fixation index (FST) and the cross-population composite likelihood ratio (XP-CLR) methods in HS and other five breeds. It was worth noting that the CC2D1B gene in HS was different from that in other sheep breeds, and seven missense mutations have been identified. Furthermore, the linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis revealed a strong linkage disequilibrium in this specific gene region. Subsequently, by performing different grouping based on FecB genotypes in Hu sheep, genome-wide selective signal analysis screened several genes related to reproduction, such as BMPR1B and PPM1K. Besides, FST analysis identified functional genes related to reproductive traits, including RHEB, HSPA2, PPP1CC, HVCN1, and CCDC63. Additionally, a missense mutation was found in the CCDC63 gene and the haplotype was different between the high reproduction (HR) group and low reproduction (LR) group in HS. In summary, we discovered genetic differentiation among six distinct breeding sheep breeds at the whole genome level. Additionally, we identified a set of genes which were associated with reproductive performance in Hu sheep and visualized how these genes differed in different breeds. These findings laid a theoretical foundation for understanding genetic mechanisms behind high prolific traits in sheep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Zhong
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China.
| | - Dunying Hou
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China
| | - Qianjun Zhao
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Siyuan Zhan
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China
| | - Linjie Wang
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China
| | - Li Li
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China
| | - Hongping Zhang
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China
| | - Wei Zhao
- College of Animal Science, Xichang University, Xichang, 615013, China
| | - Shizhong Yang
- Academy of Agricultural Sciences Liangshan, Xichang, 615000, China
| | - Lili Niu
- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China
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Niciura SCM, Cardoso TF, Ibelli AMG, Okino CH, Andrade BG, Benavides MV, Chagas ACDS, Esteves SN, Minho AP, Regitano LCDA, Gondro C. Multi-omics data elucidate parasite-host-microbiota interactions and resistance to Haemonchus contortus in sheep. Parasit Vectors 2024; 17:102. [PMID: 38429820 PMCID: PMC10908167 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-024-06205-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The integration of molecular data from hosts, parasites, and microbiota can enhance our understanding of the complex biological interactions underlying the resistance of hosts to parasites. Haemonchus contortus, the predominant sheep gastrointestinal parasite species in the tropics, causes significant production and economic losses, which are further compounded by the diminishing efficiency of chemical control owing to anthelmintic resistance. Knowledge of how the host responds to infection and how the parasite, in combination with microbiota, modulates host immunity can guide selection decisions to breed animals with improved parasite resistance. This understanding will help refine management practices and advance the development of new therapeutics for long-term helminth control. METHODS Eggs per gram (EPG) of feces were obtained from Morada Nova sheep subjected to two artificial infections with H. contortus and used as a proxy to select animals with high resistance or susceptibility for transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) of the abomasum and 50 K single-nucleotide genotyping. Additionally, RNA-seq data for H. contortus were generated, and amplicon sequence variants (ASV) were obtained using polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing of bacterial and archaeal 16S ribosomal RNA genes from sheep feces and rumen content. RESULTS The heritability estimate for EPG was 0.12. GAST, GNLY, IL13, MGRN1, FGF14, and RORC genes and transcripts were differentially expressed between resistant and susceptible animals. A genome-wide association study identified regions on chromosomes 2 and 11 that harbor candidate genes for resistance, immune response, body weight, and adaptation. Trans-expression quantitative trait loci were found between significant variants and differentially expressed transcripts. Functional co-expression modules based on sheep genes and ASVs correlated with resistance to H. contortus, showing enrichment in pathways of response to bacteria, immune and inflammatory responses, and hub features of the Christensenellaceae, Bacteroides, and Methanobrevibacter genera; Prevotellaceae family; and Verrucomicrobiota phylum. In H. contortus, some mitochondrial, collagen-, and cuticle-related genes were expressed only in parasites isolated from susceptible sheep. CONCLUSIONS The present study identified chromosome regions, genes, transcripts, and pathways involved in the elaborate interactions between the sheep host, its gastrointestinal microbiota, and the H. contortus parasite. These findings will assist in the development of animal selection strategies for parasite resistance and interdisciplinary approaches to control H. contortus infection in sheep.
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Li W, Wu X, Xiang D, Zhang W, Wu L, Meng X, Huo J, Yin Z, Fu G, Zhao G. Genome-Wide Detection for Runs of Homozygosity in Baoshan Pigs Using Whole Genome Resequencing. Genes (Basel) 2024; 15:233. [PMID: 38397222 PMCID: PMC10887577 DOI: 10.3390/genes15020233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2024] [Revised: 02/08/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Baoshan pigs (BS) are a local breed in Yunnan Province that may face inbreeding owing to its limited population size. To accurately evaluate the inbreeding level of the BS pig population, we used whole-genome resequencing to identify runs of homozygosity (ROH) regions in BS pigs, calculated the inbreeding coefficient based on pedigree and ROH, and screened candidate genes with important economic traits from ROH islands. A total of 22,633,391 SNPS were obtained from the whole genome of BS pigs, and 201 ROHs were detected from 532,450 SNPS after quality control. The number of medium-length ROH (1-5 Mb) was the highest (98.43%), the number of long ROH (>5 Mb) was the lowest (1.57%), and the inbreeding of BS pigs mainly occurred in distant generations. The inbreeding coefficient FROH, calculated based on ROH, was 0.018 ± 0.016, and the FPED, calculated based on the pedigree, was 0.027 ± 0.028, which were positively correlated. Forty ROH islands were identified, containing 507 genes and 891 QTLs. Several genes were associated with growth and development (IGFALS, PTN, DLX5, DKK1, WNT2), meat quality traits (MC3R, ACSM3, ECI1, CD36, ROCK1, CACNA2D1), and reproductive traits (NPW, TSHR, BMP7). This study provides a reference for the protection and utilization of BS pigs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjun Li
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China; (W.L.); (L.W.); (X.M.); (J.H.); (G.F.)
| | - Xudong Wu
- Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei 230036, China; (X.W.); (W.Z.)
| | - Decai Xiang
- Institute of Pig and Animal Research, Yunnan Academy of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Kunming 650201, China;
| | - Wei Zhang
- Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei 230036, China; (X.W.); (W.Z.)
| | - Lingxiang Wu
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China; (W.L.); (L.W.); (X.M.); (J.H.); (G.F.)
| | - Xintong Meng
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China; (W.L.); (L.W.); (X.M.); (J.H.); (G.F.)
| | - Jinlong Huo
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China; (W.L.); (L.W.); (X.M.); (J.H.); (G.F.)
| | - Zongjun Yin
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China;
| | - Guowen Fu
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China; (W.L.); (L.W.); (X.M.); (J.H.); (G.F.)
| | - Guiying Zhao
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China; (W.L.); (L.W.); (X.M.); (J.H.); (G.F.)
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Lukic B, Curik I, Drzaic I, Galić V, Shihabi M, Vostry L, Cubric-Curik V. Genomic signatures of selection, local adaptation and production type characterisation of East Adriatic sheep breeds. J Anim Sci Biotechnol 2023; 14:142. [PMID: 37932811 PMCID: PMC10626677 DOI: 10.1186/s40104-023-00936-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The importance of sheep breeding in the Mediterranean part of the eastern Adriatic has a long tradition since its arrival during the Neolithic migrations. Sheep production system is extensive and generally carried out in traditional systems without intensive systematic breeding programmes for high uniform trait production (carcass, wool and milk yield). Therefore, eight indigenous Croatian sheep breeds from eastern Adriatic treated here as metapopulation (EAS), are generally considered as multipurpose breeds (milk, meat and wool), not specialised for a particular type of production, but known for their robustness and resistance to certain environmental conditions. Our objective was to identify genomic regions and genes that exhibit patterns of positive selection signatures, decipher their biological and productive functionality, and provide a "genomic" characterization of EAS adaptation and determine its production type. RESULTS We identified positive selection signatures in EAS using several methods based on reduced local variation, linkage disequilibrium and site frequency spectrum (eROHi, iHS, nSL and CLR). Our analyses identified numerous genomic regions and genes (e.g., desmosomal cadherin and desmoglein gene families) associated with environmental adaptation and economically important traits. Most candidate genes were related to meat/production and health/immune response traits, while some of the candidate genes discovered were important for domestication and evolutionary processes (e.g., HOXa gene family and FSIP2). These results were also confirmed by GO and QTL enrichment analysis. CONCLUSIONS Our results contribute to a better understanding of the unique adaptive genetic architecture of EAS and define its productive type, ultimately providing a new opportunity for future breeding programmes. At the same time, the numerous genes identified will improve our understanding of ruminant (sheep) robustness and resistance in the harsh and specific Mediterranean environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boris Lukic
- Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, J.J, Strossmayer University of Osijek, Vladimira Preloga 1, 31000, Osijek, Croatia.
| | - Ino Curik
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska Cesta 25, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Ivana Drzaic
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska Cesta 25, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Vlatko Galić
- Department of Maize Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural Institute Osijek, Južno predgrađe 17, 31000, Osijek, Croatia
| | - Mario Shihabi
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska Cesta 25, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Luboš Vostry
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00, Praque, Czech Republic
| | - Vlatka Cubric-Curik
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska Cesta 25, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia
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Amandykova M, Akhatayeva Z, Kozhakhmet A, Kapassuly T, Orazymbetova Z, Yergali K, Khamzin K, Iskakov K, Dossybayev K. Distribution of Runs of Homozygosity and Their Relationship with Candidate Genes for Productivity in Kazakh Meat-Wool Sheep Breed. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:1988. [PMID: 38002931 PMCID: PMC10671688 DOI: 10.3390/genes14111988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2023] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Increasing the fertility of sheep remains one of the crucial issues of modern sheep breeding. The Kazakh meat-wool sheep is an excellent breed with high meat and wool productivity and well adapted to harsh conditions. Nowadays, runs of homozygosity (ROHs) are considered a suitable approach for studying the genetic characteristics of farm animals. The aims of the study were to analyze the distribution of ROHs, describe autozygosity, and detect genomic regions with high ROH islands. In this study, we genotyped a total of 281 Kazakh meat-wool sheep using the Illumina iScan® system (EquipNet, Canton, MA, USA) via Ovine SNP50 BeadChip array. As a results, a total of 15,069 ROHs were found in the three Kazakh meat-wool sheep populations. The mean number of ROH per animal across populations varied from 40.3 (POP1) to 42.2 (POP2) in the category 1+ Mb. Furthermore, the number of ROH per animal in ROH1-2 Mb were much higher than ROH2-4 Mb and ROH8-16 Mb in the three sheep populations. Most of individuals had small number of ROH>16 Mb. The highest and lowest genomic inbreeding coefficient values were observed in POP2 and POP3, respectively. The estimated FROH presented the impact that recent inbreeding has had in all sheep populations. Furthermore, a set of interesting candidate genes (BMP2, BMPR2, BMPRIB, CLOCK, KDM2B, TIAM1, TASP1, MYBPC1, MYOM1, and CACNA2D1), which are related to the productive traits, were found. Collectively, these findings will contribute to the breeding and conservation strategies of the Kazakh meat-wool sheep breed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Makpal Amandykova
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Physiology SC MSHE RK, Al-Farabi Ave. 93, Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan; (M.A.); (Z.A.); (A.K.); (T.K.); (Z.O.); (K.Y.); (K.I.)
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Al-Farabi Ave. 71, Almaty 050042, Kazakhstan
| | - Zhanerke Akhatayeva
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Physiology SC MSHE RK, Al-Farabi Ave. 93, Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan; (M.A.); (Z.A.); (A.K.); (T.K.); (Z.O.); (K.Y.); (K.I.)
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Kazakh Research Institute of Livestock and Fodder Production, Zhandosov Str. 51, Almaty 050035, Kazakhstan;
| | - Altynay Kozhakhmet
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Physiology SC MSHE RK, Al-Farabi Ave. 93, Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan; (M.A.); (Z.A.); (A.K.); (T.K.); (Z.O.); (K.Y.); (K.I.)
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Al-Farabi Ave. 71, Almaty 050042, Kazakhstan
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Kazakh Research Institute of Livestock and Fodder Production, Zhandosov Str. 51, Almaty 050035, Kazakhstan;
| | - Tilek Kapassuly
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Physiology SC MSHE RK, Al-Farabi Ave. 93, Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan; (M.A.); (Z.A.); (A.K.); (T.K.); (Z.O.); (K.Y.); (K.I.)
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Al-Farabi Ave. 71, Almaty 050042, Kazakhstan
| | - Zarina Orazymbetova
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Physiology SC MSHE RK, Al-Farabi Ave. 93, Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan; (M.A.); (Z.A.); (A.K.); (T.K.); (Z.O.); (K.Y.); (K.I.)
| | - Kanagat Yergali
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Physiology SC MSHE RK, Al-Farabi Ave. 93, Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan; (M.A.); (Z.A.); (A.K.); (T.K.); (Z.O.); (K.Y.); (K.I.)
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Kazakh Research Institute of Livestock and Fodder Production, Zhandosov Str. 51, Almaty 050035, Kazakhstan;
| | - Kadyrzhan Khamzin
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Kazakh Research Institute of Livestock and Fodder Production, Zhandosov Str. 51, Almaty 050035, Kazakhstan;
| | - Kairat Iskakov
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Physiology SC MSHE RK, Al-Farabi Ave. 93, Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan; (M.A.); (Z.A.); (A.K.); (T.K.); (Z.O.); (K.Y.); (K.I.)
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Kazakh Research Institute of Livestock and Fodder Production, Zhandosov Str. 51, Almaty 050035, Kazakhstan;
| | - Kairat Dossybayev
- Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Genetics and Physiology SC MSHE RK, Al-Farabi Ave. 93, Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan; (M.A.); (Z.A.); (A.K.); (T.K.); (Z.O.); (K.Y.); (K.I.)
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Al-Farabi Ave. 71, Almaty 050042, Kazakhstan
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Kazakh Research Institute of Livestock and Fodder Production, Zhandosov Str. 51, Almaty 050035, Kazakhstan;
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10
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Abdoli R, Mirhoseini SZ, Ghavi Hossein-Zadeh N, Zamani P, Moradi MH, Ferdosi MH, Sargolzaei M, Gondro C. Runs of homozygosity and cross-generational inbreeding of Iranian fat-tailed sheep. Heredity (Edinb) 2023; 130:358-367. [PMID: 37016136 PMCID: PMC10238534 DOI: 10.1038/s41437-023-00611-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 04/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The Lori-Bakhtiari fat-tailed sheep is one of the most important heavyweight native breeds of Iran. The breed is robust and well-adapted to semi-arid regions and an important resource for smallholder farms. An established nucleus-based breeding scheme is used to improve their production traits but there is an indication of inbreeding depression and loss of genetic diversity due to selection. Here, we estimated the inbreeding levels and the distribution of runs of homozygosity (ROH) islands in 122 multi-generational female Lori-Bakhtiari from different half-sib families selected from a breeding station that were genotyped on the 50k array. A total of 2404 ROH islands were identified. On average, there were 19.70 ± 1.4 ROH per individual ranging between 6 and 41. The mean length of the ROH was 4.1 ± 0.14 Mb. There were 1999 short ROH of length 1-6 Mb and another 300 in the 6-12 Mb range. Additionally long ROH indicative of inbreeding were found in the ranges of 12-24 Mb (95) and 24-48 Mb (10). The average inbreeding coefficient (FROH) was 0.031 ± 0.003 with estimates varying from 0.006 to 0.083. Across generations, FROH increased from 0.019 ± 0.012 to 0.036 ± 0.007. Signatures of selection were identified on chromosomes 2, 6, and 10, encompassing 55 genes and 23 QTL associated with production traits. Inbreeding coefficients are currently within acceptable levels but across generations, inbreeding is increasing due to selection. The breeding program needs to actively monitor future inbreeding rates and ensure that the breed maintains or improves on its current levels of environmental adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ramin Abdoli
- Iran Silk Research Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Gilan, Iran.
| | - Seyed Ziaeddin Mirhoseini
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, 41635-1314, Iran.
| | - Navid Ghavi Hossein-Zadeh
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, 41635-1314, Iran
| | - Pouya Zamani
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, 65178-33131, Iran
| | - Mohammad Hossein Moradi
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arāk, 38156-8-8349, Iran
| | - Mohammad Hossein Ferdosi
- AGBU, a joint venture of NSW Department of Primary Industries and University of New England, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia
| | - Mehdi Sargolzaei
- Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - Cedric Gondro
- Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
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11
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Gmel AI, Guichard M, Dainat B, Williams GR, Eynard S, Vignal A, Servin B, Neuditschko M. Identification of runs of homozygosity in Western honey bees ( Apis mellifera) using whole-genome sequencing data. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9723. [PMID: 36694553 PMCID: PMC9843643 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are continuous homozygous segments that arise through the transmission of haplotypes that are identical by descent. The length and distribution of ROH segments provide insights into the genetic diversity of populations and can be associated with selection signatures. Here, we analyzed reconstructed whole-genome queen genotypes, from a pool-seq data experiment including 265 Western honeybee colonies from Apis mellifera mellifera and Apis mellifera carnica. Integrating individual ROH patterns and admixture levels in a dynamic population network visualization allowed us to ascertain major differences between the two subspecies. Within A. m. mellifera, we identified well-defined substructures according to the genetic origin of the queens. Despite the current applied conservation efforts, we pinpointed 79 admixed queens. Genomic inbreeding (F ROH) strongly varied within and between the identified subpopulations. Conserved A. m. mellifera from Switzerland had the highest mean F ROH (3.39%), while queens originating from a conservation area in France, which were also highly admixed, showed significantly lower F ROH (0.45%). The majority of A. m. carnica queens were also highly admixed, except 12 purebred queens with a mean F ROH of 2.33%. Within the breed-specific ROH islands, we identified 14 coding genes for A. m. mellifera and five for A. m. carnica, respectively. Local adaption of A. m. mellifera could be suggested by the identification of genes involved in the response to ultraviolet light (Crh-BP, Uvop) and body size (Hex70a, Hex70b), while the A. m. carnica specific genes Cpr3 and Cpr4 are most likely associated with the lighter striping pattern, a morphological phenotype expected in this subspecies. We demonstrated that queen genotypes derived from pooled workers are useful tool to unravel the population dynamics in A. mellifera and provide fundamental information to conserve native honey bees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annik Imogen Gmel
- Animal GenoPhenomics, Animal Production Systems and Animal HealthAgroscopePosieuxSwitzerland
| | - Matthieu Guichard
- Animal GenoPhenomics, Animal Production Systems and Animal HealthAgroscopePosieuxSwitzerland
- Swiss Bee Research CentreAgroscopeLiebefeldSwitzerland
| | | | | | - Sonia Eynard
- GenPhySEINRAE, INPT, INPENVTUniversité de ToulouseCastanet‐TolosanFrance
- UMT PrADEProtection des Abeilles Dans L'EnvironnementAvignonFrance
| | - Alain Vignal
- GenPhySEINRAE, INPT, INPENVTUniversité de ToulouseCastanet‐TolosanFrance
- UMT PrADEProtection des Abeilles Dans L'EnvironnementAvignonFrance
| | - Bertrand Servin
- GenPhySEINRAE, INPT, INPENVTUniversité de ToulouseCastanet‐TolosanFrance
- UMT PrADEProtection des Abeilles Dans L'EnvironnementAvignonFrance
| | | | - Markus Neuditschko
- Animal GenoPhenomics, Animal Production Systems and Animal HealthAgroscopePosieuxSwitzerland
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12
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Machová K, Marina H, Arranz JJ, Pelayo R, Rychtářová J, Milerski M, Vostrý L, Suárez-Vega A. Genetic diversity of two native sheep breeds by genome-wide analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms. Animal 2023; 17:100690. [PMID: 36566708 DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2022.100690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2022] [Revised: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Wallachian and Sumava sheep are autochthonous breeds that have undergone a significant bottleneck effect and subsequent restoration efforts. The first objective of this study was to evaluate the degree of genetic variability of both breeds and, therefore, the current management of the breeding. The second was to determine whether these two breeds still retain their genetic uniqueness in relation to each other and other breeds, despite regenerative interventions. Our data consisted of 48 individuals of Sumava and 37 individuals of Wallachian sheep. The comparison data contained 25 other breeds (primarily European) from the HapMap dataset generated by the International Sheep Genomics Consortium. When comparing all 27 breeds, the Czech breeds clustered with 15 other breeds and formed a single branch with them according to Nei's distances. At the same time, however, the clusters of both breeds were integral and easily distinguishable from the others when displayed with principal component analysis (PCA). Population substructure analysis did not show any common genetic ancestry of the Czech national breeds and breeds used for regeneration or, eventually, breeds whose ancestral population was used for regeneration. The average values of FST were higher in Wallachian sheep (FST = 0.14) than in Sumava sheep (FST = 0.08). The linkage disequilibrium (LD) extension per autosome was higher in Wallachian than in Sumava sheep. Consequently, the Ne estimates five generations ago were 68 for Sumava versus 34 for Wallachian sheep. Both native Czech breeds exhibit a wide range of inbreeding based on the excess of homozygosity (FHOM) among individuals, from -0.04 to 0.16 in Sumava and from -0.13 to 0.12 in Wallachian. Average inbreeding based on runs of homozygosity was 0.21 in Sumava and 0.27 in Wallachian. Most detected runs of homozygosity (ROH) were less than 5 Mb long for both breeds. ROH segments longer than 15 Mb were absent in Wallachian sheep. Concerning putative selection signatures, a total of 471 candidate genes in Wallachian sheep within 11 hotspots and 653 genes within 13 hotspots in Sumava sheep were identified. Czech breeds appear to be well differentiated from each other and other European breeds. Their genetic diversity is low, especially in the case of the Wallachian breed. Sumava is not so threatened by low diversity but has a larger share of the non-native gene pool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karolína Machová
- Department of Genetics and Breeding, Czech University of Life Sciences (CZU), Prague, Czech Republic, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Praha, Suchdol, Czech Republic.
| | - Héctor Marina
- Department of Animal Production, University of Leon, Leon, Spain, Veterinary Faculty, Campus de Vegazana, s/n, 24071 Leon, Spain
| | - Juan Jose Arranz
- Department of Animal Production, University of Leon, Leon, Spain, Veterinary Faculty, Campus de Vegazana, s/n, 24071 Leon, Spain
| | - Rocío Pelayo
- Department of Animal Production, University of Leon, Leon, Spain, Veterinary Faculty, Campus de Vegazana, s/n, 24071 Leon, Spain
| | - Jana Rychtářová
- Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech republic, Přátelství 815, 104 00 Praha, Uhříněves, Czech Republic
| | - Michal Milerski
- Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech republic, Přátelství 815, 104 00 Praha, Uhříněves, Czech Republic
| | - Luboš Vostrý
- Department of Genetics and Breeding, Czech University of Life Sciences (CZU), Prague, Czech Republic, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Praha, Suchdol, Czech Republic
| | - Aroa Suárez-Vega
- Department of Animal Production, University of Leon, Leon, Spain, Veterinary Faculty, Campus de Vegazana, s/n, 24071 Leon, Spain
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Chessari G, Criscione A, Tolone M, Bordonaro S, Rizzuto I, Riggio S, Macaluso V, Moscarelli A, Portolano B, Sardina MT, Mastrangelo S. High-density SNP markers elucidate the genetic divergence and population structure of Noticiana sheep breed in the Mediterranean context. Front Vet Sci 2023; 10:1127354. [PMID: 37205231 PMCID: PMC10185747 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1127354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Among livestock species, sheep have played an early major role in the Mediterranean area. Italy has a long history of sheep breeding and, despite a dramatic contraction in numbers, still raise several local populations that may represent a unique source of genetic diversity. The Noticiana is a breed of the south-eastern part of Sicily appreciated both for its dairy products and for its resistance to harsh environment. In this study, the high-density Illumina Ovine SNP600K BeadChip array was used for the first genome-wide characterization of 48 individuals of Noticiana sheep to investigate its diversity, the genome structure and the relationship within the context of worldwide and Italian breeds. Moreover, the runs of homozygosity (ROH) pattern and the pairwise FST-outliers were examined. Noticiana reported moderate levels of genetic diversity. The high percentage of short and medium length ROH segments (93% under 4 Mb) is indicative of a within breed relatedness dating back to ancient times, despite the absence of management for the mating plans and the reduced population size. In the worldwide context, the Southern Italian, Spanish and Albanian breeds overlapped in a macro cluster which also included the Noticiana sheep. The results highlighted ancestral genetic components of Noticiana shared with Comisana breed, and showed the clear separation from the other Italian sheep. This is likely the consequence of the combined effects of genetic drift, small population size and reproductive isolation. ROH islands and FST-outliers approaches in Noticiana identified genes and QTLs involved in milk and meat production, as well as related to the local adaptation, and therefore are consistent with the phenotypic traits of the studied breed. Although a wider sampling could be useful to deepen the genomic survey on Noticiana, these results represent a crucial starting point for the characterization of an important local genetic resource, with a view of supporting the local economy and preserving the biodiversity of the sheep species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giorgio Chessari
- Dipartimento Agricoltura, Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - Andrea Criscione
- Dipartimento Agricoltura, Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - Marco Tolone
- Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Salvatore Bordonaro
- Dipartimento Agricoltura, Alimentazione e Ambiente, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - Ilaria Rizzuto
- Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Silvia Riggio
- Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Vito Macaluso
- Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Angelo Moscarelli
- Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Baldassare Portolano
- Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Maria Teresa Sardina
- Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Salvatore Mastrangelo
- Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
- *Correspondence: Salvatore Mastrangelo,
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14
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Pan Y, Wang M, Wu H, Akhatayeva Z, Lan X, Fei P, Mao C, Jiang F. Indel mutations of sheep PLAG1 gene and their associations with growth traits. Anim Biotechnol 2022; 33:1459-1465. [PMID: 33825658 DOI: 10.1080/10495398.2021.1906265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Pleiomorphic adenoma gene 1 (PLAG1) is mainly expressed in embryonic development, and it is reported to take an effect on the growth performance of mice, cattle, pigs, and sheep. To explore how conservative the PLAG1 is in different sheep breeds, the effects of the two indel variants on the growth traits of the Chinese Luxi blackhead (LXBH) sheep were firstly detected. The P2-del 30 bp and P4-del 45 bp indel loci of the sheep PLAG1 gene were significantly related to 15 growth traits (P < 0.05). Genotype ID and genotype II were dominant for the P2-del 30 bp and P4-del 45 bp loci, respectively. The above findings indicated that the two indel mutations in the ovine PLAG1 gene were suggested to become the molecular markers for the selection of economic traits in sheep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Pan
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
| | - Min Wang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
| | - Hui Wu
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
| | - Zhanerke Akhatayeva
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
| | - Xianyong Lan
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
| | - Panfeng Fei
- College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
| | - Cui Mao
- Shandong Key Laboratory of Animal Disease Control and Breeding, Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, China
| | - Fugui Jiang
- Shandong Key Laboratory of Animal Disease Control and Breeding, Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, China
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15
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Kalds P, Zhou S, Gao Y, Cai B, Huang S, Chen Y, Wang X. Genetics of the phenotypic evolution in sheep: a molecular look at diversity-driving genes. Genet Sel Evol 2022; 54:61. [PMID: 36085023 PMCID: PMC9463822 DOI: 10.1186/s12711-022-00753-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND After domestication, the evolution of phenotypically-varied sheep breeds has generated rich biodiversity. This wide phenotypic variation arises as a result of hidden genomic changes that range from a single nucleotide to several thousands of nucleotides. Thus, it is of interest and significance to reveal and understand the genomic changes underlying the phenotypic variation of sheep breeds in order to drive selection towards economically important traits. REVIEW Various traits contribute to the emergence of variation in sheep phenotypic characteristics, including coat color, horns, tail, wool, ears, udder, vertebrae, among others. The genes that determine most of these phenotypic traits have been investigated, which has generated knowledge regarding the genetic determinism of several agriculturally-relevant traits in sheep. In this review, we discuss the genomic knowledge that has emerged in the past few decades regarding the phenotypic traits in sheep, and our ultimate aim is to encourage its practical application in sheep breeding. In addition, in order to expand the current understanding of the sheep genome, we shed light on research gaps that require further investigation. CONCLUSIONS Although significant research efforts have been conducted in the past few decades, several aspects of the sheep genome remain unexplored. For the full utilization of the current knowledge of the sheep genome, a wide practical application is still required in order to boost sheep productive performance and contribute to the generation of improved sheep breeds. The accumulated knowledge on the sheep genome will help advance and strengthen sheep breeding programs to face future challenges in the sector, such as climate change, global human population growth, and the increasing demand for products of animal origin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Kalds
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 China
- Department of Animal and Poultry Production, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Arish University, El-Arish, 45511 Egypt
| | - Shiwei Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 China
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 China
| | - Yawei Gao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 China
| | - Bei Cai
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 China
| | - Shuhong Huang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 China
| | - Yulin Chen
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 China
- International Joint Agriculture Research Center for Animal Bio-Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling, 712100 China
| | - Xiaolong Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 China
- International Joint Agriculture Research Center for Animal Bio-Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling, 712100 China
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16
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Genomic inbreeding and runs of homozygosity analysis of indigenous cattle populations in southern China. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0271718. [PMID: 36006904 PMCID: PMC9409551 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are continuous homozygous segments from the common ancestor of parents. Evaluating ROH pattern can help to understand inbreeding level and genetic basis of important traits. In this study, three representative cattle populations including Leiqiong cattle (LQC), Lufeng cattle (LFC) and Hainan cattle (HNC) were genotyped using the Illumina BovineHD SNPs array (770K) to assess ROH pattern at genome wide level. Totally, we identified 26,537 ROH with an average of 153 ROH per individual. The sizes of ROH ranged from 0.5 to 53.26Mb, and the average length was 1.03Mb. The average of FROH ranged from 0.10 (LQC) to 0.15 (HNC). Moreover, we identified 34 ROH islands (with frequency > 0.5) across genome. Based on these regions, we observed several breed-specific candidate genes related to adaptive traits. Several common genes related to immunity (TMEM173, MZB1 and SIL1), and heat stress (DNAJC18) were identified in all three populations. Three genes related to immunity (UGP2), development (PURA) and reproduction (VPS54) were detected in both HNC and LQC. Notably, we identified several breed-specific genes related to sperm development (BRDT and SPAG6) and heat stress (TAF7) in HNC, and immunity (CDC23 and NME5) and development (WNT87) in LFC. Our findings provided valuable insights into understanding the genomic homozygosity pattern and promoting the conservation of genetic resources of Chinese indigenous cattle.
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17
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Wyss P, Song C, Bina M. Along the Bos taurus genome, uncover candidate imprinting control regions. BMC Genomics 2022; 23:478. [PMID: 35764919 PMCID: PMC9241299 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-022-08694-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In mammals, Imprinting Control Regions (ICRs) regulate a subset of genes in a parent-of-origin-specific manner. In both human and mouse, previous studies identified a set of CpG-rich motifs occurring as clusters in ICRs and germline Differentially Methylated Regions (gDMRs). These motifs consist of the ZFP57 binding site (ZFBS) overlapping a subset of MLL binding units known as MLL morphemes. MLL or MLL1 (Mixed Lineage Leukemia 1) is a relatively large multidomain protein that plays a central role in the regulation of transcription. The structures of both MLL1 and MLL2 include a domain (MT) that binds CpG-rich DNA and a conserved domain (SET) that methylates lysine 4 in histone H3 producing H3K4me3 marks in chromatin. Results Since genomic imprinting impacts many developmental and key physiological processes, we followed a previous bioinformatics strategy to pinpoint ICR positions in the Bos taurus genome. Initial genome-wide analyses involved finding the positions of ZFP57 binding sites, and the CpG-rich motifs (ZFBS-morph overlaps) along cattle chromosomal DNA. By creating plots displaying the density of ZFBS-morph overlaps, we removed background noise and thus improved signal detection. With the density-plots, we could view the positions of peaks locating known and candidate ICRs in cattle DNA. Our evaluations revealed the correspondence of peaks in plots to reported known and inferred ICRs/DMRs in cattle. Beside peaks pinpointing such ICRs, the density-plots also revealed additional peaks. Since evaluations validated the robustness of our approach, we inferred that the additional peaks may correspond to candidate ICRs for imprinted gene expression. Conclusion Our bioinformatics strategy offers the first genome-wide approach for systematically localizing candidate ICRs. Furthermore, we have tailored our datasets for upload onto the UCSC genome browser so that researchers could find known and candidate ICRs with respect to a wide variety of annotations at all scales: from the positions of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), to positions of genes, transcripts, and repeated DNA elements. Furthermore, the UCSC genome browser offers tools to produce enlarged views: to uncover the genes in the vicinity of candidate ICRs and thus discover potential imprinted genes for experimental validations. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08694-3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phillip Wyss
- Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
| | - Carol Song
- Information Technology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
| | - Minou Bina
- Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
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Capturing Genetic Diversity and Selection Signatures of the Endangered Kosovar Balusha Sheep Breed. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13050866. [PMID: 35627251 PMCID: PMC9140571 DOI: 10.3390/genes13050866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2022] [Revised: 04/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
There is a growing concern about the loss of animal genetic resources. The aim of this study was to analyze the genetic diversity and potential peculiarity of the endangered Kosovar sheep breed Balusha. For this purpose, a dataset consisting of medium-density SNP chip genotypes (39,879 SNPs) from 45 Balusha sheep was generated and compared with SNP chip genotypes from 29 individuals of a second Kosovar breed, Bardhoka. Publicly available SNP genotypes from 39 individuals of the relatively closely located sheep breeds Istrian Pramenka and Ruda were additionally included in the analyses. Analysis of heterozygosity, allelic richness and effective population size was used to assess the genetic diversity. Inbreeding was evaluated using two different methods (FIS, FROH). The standardized FST (di) and cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity (XPEHH) methods were used to detect signatures of selection. We observed the lowest heterozygosity (HO = 0.351) and effective population size (Ne5 = 25, Ne50 = 228) for the Balusha breed. The mean allelic richness levels (1.780–1.876) across all analyzed breeds were similar and also comparable with those in worldwide breeds. FROH estimates (0.023–0.077) were highest for the Balusha population, although evidence of decreased inbreeding was observed in FIS results for the Balusha breed. Two Gene Ontology (GO) TERMs were strongly enriched for Balusha, and involved genes belonging to the melanogenesis and T cell receptor signaling pathways, respectively. This could result from selection for the special coat color pattern of Balusha (black head) and resistance to certain infectious diseases. The analyzed diversity parameters highlight the urgency to preserve the local Kosovar Balusha sheep as it is clearly distinguished from other sheep of Southeastern Europe, has the lowest diversity level and may harbor valuable genetic variants, e.g., for resistance to infectious diseases.
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Maiorano AM, Cardoso DF, Carvalheiro R, Júnior GAF, de Albuquerque LG, de Oliveira HN. Signatures of selection in Nelore cattle revealed by whole-genome sequencing data. Genomics 2022; 114:110304. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2022.110304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2021] [Revised: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Cesarani A, Gaspa G, Correddu F, Dimauro C, Macciotta NPP. Unravelling the effect of environment on the genome of Sarda breed ewes using Runs of Homozygosity. J Anim Breed Genet 2022; 139:292-306. [PMID: 34984736 DOI: 10.1111/jbg.12666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Revised: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Natural adaptation and artificial selection have shaped the genome of modern livestock breeds. Among SNP-based metrics that are used to detect signatures of selection at genome-wide level, runs of homozygosity (ROH) are getting increasing popularity. In this paper, ROH distribution and features of a sample of 823 Sarda breed ewes farmed at different levels of altitude are analysed to investigate the effect of the environment on the patterns of homozygosity. A total of 46,829 (33,087 unique) ROH were detected. OAR2 exhibited the largest average number of ROH per animal. The most frequent ROH (OAR27, 38.9-44.2 Mb) was shared by 327. ROH length was statistically affected (p < 0.001) by both the altitude and temperature of the place where the flock was located. The highest probability of a SNP falling in a ROH was observed for hill ewes, whereas the smallest one for mountain. A total of 457 SNP exceeded the 99th percentile of the ROH count per SNP distribution and were considered significant. These markers mapped in eight chromosomes and they clustered into 17 ROH islands, where 80 candidate genes were mapped. Results of this study highlighted differences in the ROH distribution and features among sheep farmed in flocks located at different levels of altitude, confirming the role of environmental adaptability in shaping the genome of this breed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Cesarani
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.,Department of Animal and Dairy Science, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
| | - Giustino Gaspa
- Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Alimentary Sciences, University of Torino, Grugliasco, Italy
| | - Fabio Correddu
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Corrado Dimauro
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
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Ben Braiek M, Moreno-Romieux C, Allain C, Bardou P, Bordes A, Debat F, Drögemüller C, Plisson-Petit F, Portes D, Sarry J, Tadi N, Woloszyn F, Fabre S. A Nonsense Variant in CCDC65 Gene Causes Respiratory Failure Associated with Increased Lamb Mortality in French Lacaune Dairy Sheep. Genes (Basel) 2021; 13:genes13010045. [PMID: 35052387 PMCID: PMC8774411 DOI: 10.3390/genes13010045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Revised: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
We recently demonstrated that the Lacaune deficient homozygous haplotype 6 (LDHH6) potentially hosts a recessive perinatal lethal mutation in Lacaune dairy sheep mapped on OAR3. In the present study, we have analyzed the whole-genome sequences of two Lacaune ram heterozygous carriers of LDHH6. After variant calling and filtering against the variants of 86 non-carrier rams, we have identified a single nucleotide variant (SNV) in the two LDHH6 carriers whose variant allele induced a premature stop codon (p.Glu111*) in the Coiled-Coil Domain Containing 65 (CCDC65) gene. CCDC65 is involved in the assembly of the nexin-dynein regulatory complex for the formation of microtubules in ciliated cells. In order to identify the phenotype in homozygous sheep, we generated at-risk matings (n = 17) between rams and ewes heterozygous for the candidate variant in CCDC65. A total of 16 lambs were born alive with five genotyped as homozygous carriers. The homozygous lambs suffered from respiratory problems, and four of them died within the first month of life. At necropsy, we observed a broad hepatization of lung lobes possibly induced by infectious pneumonia. The management of this lethal recessive allele (frequency of 0.06) through reasoned mating in the Lacaune sheep selection schemes could reduce lamb mortality by 2%.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Ben Braiek
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
| | - Carole Moreno-Romieux
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
| | - Charlotte Allain
- UE Domaine de La Fage, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et L’environnement (INRAE), 12250 Saint-Jean et Saint-Paul, France; (C.A.); (D.P.)
| | - Philippe Bardou
- Sigenae, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et L’environnement (INRAE), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France;
| | - Arnaud Bordes
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
| | - Frédéric Debat
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
| | - Cord Drögemüller
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland;
| | - Florence Plisson-Petit
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
| | - David Portes
- UE Domaine de La Fage, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et L’environnement (INRAE), 12250 Saint-Jean et Saint-Paul, France; (C.A.); (D.P.)
| | - Julien Sarry
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
| | - Némuel Tadi
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
| | - Florent Woloszyn
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
| | - Stéphane Fabre
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, Institut National de Recherche Pour L’agriculture, L’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France; (M.B.B.); (C.M.-R.); (A.B.); (F.D.); (F.P.-P.); (J.S.); (N.T.); (F.W.)
- Correspondence:
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22
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Investigating inbreeding in the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) genome. Poult Sci 2021; 100:101366. [PMID: 34525446 PMCID: PMC8445901 DOI: 10.1016/j.psj.2021.101366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2021] [Revised: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The detrimental effects of increased homozygosity due to inbreeding have prompted the development of methods to reduce inbreeding. The detection of runs of homozygosity (ROH), or contiguous stretches of homozygous marker genotypes, can be used to describe and quantify the level of inbreeding in an individual. The estimation of inbreeding coefficients can be calculated based on pedigree information, ROH, or the genomic relationship matrix. The aim of this study was to detect and describe ROH in the turkey genome and compare estimates of pedigree-based inbreeding coefficients (FPED) with genomic-based inbreeding coefficients estimated from ROH (FROH) and the genomic relationship matrix (FGRM). A total of 2,616,890 pedigree records were available. Of these records, 6,371 genotyped animals from three purebred turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) lines between 2013 and 2019 were available, and these were obtained using a dense single nucleotide polymorphism array (56,452 SNPs). The overall mean length of detected ROH was 2.87 ± 0.29 Mb with a mean number of 84.87 ± 8.79 ROH per animal. Short ROH with lengths of 1 to 2 Mb long were the most abundant throughout the genome. Mean ROH coverage differed greatly between chromosomes and lines. Considering inbreeding coefficient means across all lines, genomic derived inbreeding coefficients (FROH = 0.27; FGRM = 0.32) were higher than coefficients estimated from pedigree records (FPED = 0.14). Correlations between FROH and FPED, FROH and FGRM, and FPED and FGRM ranged between 0.19 to 0.31, 0.68 to 0.73, and 0.17 to 0.30, respectively. Additionally, correlations between FROH from different lengths and FPED substantially increased with ROH length from -0.06 to 0.33. Results of the current research, including the distribution of ROH throughout the genome and ROH-derived inbreeding estimates, can provide a more comprehensive description of inbreeding in the turkey genome. This knowledge can be used to evaluate genetic diversity, a requirement for genetic improvement, and develop methods to minimize inbreeding in turkey breeding programs.
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Kominakis A, Tarsani E, Hager-Theodorides AL, Mastranestasis I, Gkelia D, Hadjigeorgiou I. Genetic differentiation of mainland-island sheep of Greece: Implications for identifying candidate genes for long-term local adaptation. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0257461. [PMID: 34529728 PMCID: PMC8445479 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
In Greece, a number of local sheep breeds are raised in a wide range of ecological niches across the country. These breeds can be used for the identification of genetic variants that contribute to local adaptation. To this end, 50k genotypes of 90 local sheep from mainland Greece (Epirus, n = 35 and Peloponnesus, n = 55) were used, as well as 147 genotypes of sheep from insular Greece (Skyros, n = 21), Lemnos, n = 36 and Lesvos, n = 90). Principal components and phylogenetic analysis along with admixture and spatial point patterns analyses suggested genetic differentiation of 'mainland-island' populations. Genome scans for signatures of selection and genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) pointed to one highly differentiating marker on OAR4 (FST = 0.39, FLK = 21.93, FDR p-value = 0.10) that also displayed genome wide significance (FDR p-value = 0.002) during GWAS. A total number of 6 positional candidate genes (LOC106990429, ZNF804B, TEX47, STEAP4, SRI and ADAM22) were identified within 500 kb flanking regions around the significant marker. In addition, two QTLs related to fat tail deposition are reported in genomic regions 800 kb downstream the significant marker. Based on gene ontology analysis and literature evidence, the identified candidate genes possess biological functions relevant to local adaptation that worth further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonios Kominakis
- Department of Animal Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Eirini Tarsani
- Department of Animal Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | | | | | - Dimitra Gkelia
- Association of Pastoral Farmers of Epirus, Ioannina, Greece
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Selli A, Ventura RV, Fonseca PAS, Buzanskas ME, Andrietta LT, Balieiro JCC, Brito LF. Detection and Visualization of Heterozygosity-Rich Regions and Runs of Homozygosity in Worldwide Sheep Populations. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:2696. [PMID: 34573664 PMCID: PMC8472390 DOI: 10.3390/ani11092696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 09/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we chose 17 worldwide sheep populations of eight breeds, which were intensively selected for different purposes (meat, milk, or wool), or locally-adapted breeds, in order to identify and characterize factors impacting the detection of runs of homozygosity (ROH) and heterozygosity-rich regions (HRRs) in sheep. We also applied a business intelligence (BI) tool to integrate and visualize outputs from complementary analyses. We observed a prevalence of short ROH, and a clear distinction between the ROH profiles across populations. The visualizations showed a fragmentation of medium and long ROH segments. Furthermore, we tested different scenarios for the detection of HRR and evaluated the impact of the detection parameters used. Our findings suggest that HRRs are small and frequent in the sheep genome; however, further studies with higher density SNP chips and different detection methods are suggested for future research. We also defined ROH and HRR islands and identified common regions across the populations, where genes related to a variety of traits were reported, such as body size, muscle development, and brain functions. These results indicate that such regions are associated with many traits, and thus were under selective pressure in sheep breeds raised for different purposes. Interestingly, many candidate genes detected within the HRR islands were associated with brain integrity. We also observed a strong association of high linkage disequilibrium pattern with ROH compared with HRR, despite the fact that many regions in linkage disequilibrium were not located in ROH regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alana Selli
- Department of Nutrition and Animal Production, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ), University of São Paulo (USP), Pirassununga 13635-900, São Paulo, Brazil; (L.T.A.); (J.C.C.B.)
| | - Ricardo V. Ventura
- Department of Nutrition and Animal Production, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ), University of São Paulo (USP), Pirassununga 13635-900, São Paulo, Brazil; (L.T.A.); (J.C.C.B.)
| | - Pablo A. S. Fonseca
- Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock, Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada;
| | - Marcos E. Buzanskas
- Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa 58051-900, Paraiba, Brazil;
| | - Lucas T. Andrietta
- Department of Nutrition and Animal Production, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ), University of São Paulo (USP), Pirassununga 13635-900, São Paulo, Brazil; (L.T.A.); (J.C.C.B.)
| | - Júlio C. C. Balieiro
- Department of Nutrition and Animal Production, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ), University of São Paulo (USP), Pirassununga 13635-900, São Paulo, Brazil; (L.T.A.); (J.C.C.B.)
| | - Luiz F. Brito
- Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA;
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Gurgul A, Jasielczuk I, Miksza-Cybulska A, Kawęcka A, Szmatoła T, Krupiński J. Evaluation of genetic differentiation and genome-wide selection signatures in Polish local sheep breeds. Livest Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2021.104635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Biodiversity of Russian Local Sheep Breeds Based on Pattern of Runs of Homozygosity. DIVERSITY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/d13080360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Russian sheep breeds traditionally raised in specific environments are valuable parts of sociocultural heritage and economic component of the regions. However, the import of commercial breeds negatively influences the population sizes of local sheep populations and might lead to biodiversity loss. Estimation of the runs of homozygosity (ROH) in local sheep genomes is an informative tool to address their current genetic state. In this work, we aimed to address the ROH distribution and to estimate genome inbreeding based on SNP data to evaluate genetic diversity in Russian local sheep breeds. Materials for this study included SNP-genotypes from twenty-seven Russian local sheep breeds which were generated using the Illumina OvineSNP50 BeadChip (n = 391) or the Illumina Ovine Infinium HD BeadChip (n = 315). A consecutive runs method was used to calculate ROH which were estimated for each animal and then categorized in the ROH length classes. The ROH were found in all breeds. The mean ROH length varied from 86 to 280 Mb, while the ROH number ranged from 37 to 123. The genomic inbreeding coefficient varied from 0.033 to 0.106. Our findings provide evidence of low to moderate genomic inbreeding in major local sheep populations.
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Ghoreishifar SM, Rochus CM, Moghaddaszadeh-Ahrabi S, Davoudi P, Salek Ardestani S, Zinovieva NA, Deniskova TE, Johansson AM. Shared Ancestry and Signatures of Recent Selection in Gotland Sheep. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12030433. [PMID: 33802939 PMCID: PMC8002741 DOI: 10.3390/genes12030433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Gotland sheep, a breed native to Gotland, Sweden (an island in the Baltic Sea), split from the Gute sheep breed approximately 100 years ago, and since, has probably been crossed with other breeds. This breed has recently gained popularity, due to its pelt quality. This study estimates the shared ancestors and identifies recent selection signatures in Gotland sheep using 600 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype data. Admixture analysis shows that the Gotland sheep is a distinct breed, but also has shared ancestral genomic components with Gute (~50%), Karakul (~30%), Romanov (~20%), and Fjällnäs (~10%) sheep breeds. Two complementary methods were applied to detect selection signatures: A Bayesian population differentiation FST and an integrated haplotype homozygosity score (iHS). Our results find that seven significant SNPs (q-value < 0.05) using the FST analysis and 55 significant SNPs (p-value < 0.0001) using the iHS analysis. Of the candidate genes that contain significant markers, or are in proximity to them, we identify several belongings to the keratin genes, RXFP2, ADCY1, ENOX1, USF2, COX7A1, ARHGAP28, CRYBB2, CAPNS1, FMO3, and GREB1. These genes are involved in wool quality, polled and horned phenotypes, fertility, twining rate, meat quality, and growth traits. In summary, our results provide shared founders of Gotland sheep and insight into genomic regions maintained under selection after the breed was formed. These results contribute to the detection of candidate genes and QTLs underlying economic traits in sheep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seyed Mohammad Ghoreishifar
- Department of Animal Science, University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj 31587-11167, Iran;
| | - Christina Marie Rochus
- Animal Breeding and Genomics, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands;
| | - Sima Moghaddaszadeh-Ahrabi
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz 5157944533, Iran;
| | - Pourya Davoudi
- Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N5E3, Canada; (P.D.); (S.S.A.)
| | - Siavash Salek Ardestani
- Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N5E3, Canada; (P.D.); (S.S.A.)
| | - Natalia A. Zinovieva
- L.K. Ernst Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry, 142132 Podolsk, Russia; (N.A.Z.); (T.E.D.)
| | - Tatiana E. Deniskova
- L.K. Ernst Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry, 142132 Podolsk, Russia; (N.A.Z.); (T.E.D.)
| | - Anna M. Johansson
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden
- Correspondence:
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Nosrati M, Asadollahpour Nanaei H, Javanmard A, Esmailizadeh A. The pattern of runs of homozygosity and genomic inbreeding in world-wide sheep populations. Genomics 2021; 113:1407-1415. [PMID: 33705888 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2021.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2020] [Revised: 02/21/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Genome-wide pattern of runs of homozygosity (ROH) across ovine genome can provide a useful resource for studying diversity and demography history in sheep. We analyzed 50 k SNPs chip data of 2536 animals to identify pattern, distribution and level of ROHs in 68 global sheep populations. A total of 60,301 ROHs were detected in all breeds. The majority of the detected ROHs were <16 Mb and the average total number of ROHs per individual was 23.8 ± 13.8. The ROHs greater than 1 Mb covered on average 8.2% of the sheep autosomes, 1% of which was related to the ROHs with 1-4 Mb of length. The mean sum of ROH length in two-thirds of the populations was less than 250 Mb ranging from 21.7 to near 570 Mb. The level of genomic inbreeding was relatively low. The average of the inbreeding coefficients based on ROH (FROH) was 0.09 ± 0.05. It was rising in a stepwise manner with distance from Southwest Asia and maximum values were detected in North European breeds. A total of 465 ROH hotspots were detected in 25 different autosomes which partially surrounding 257 Refseq genes across the genome. Most of the detected genes were related to growth, body weight, meat production and quality, wool production and pigmentation. In conclusion, our analysis showed that the sheep genome, compared with other livestock species such as cattle and pig, displays low levels of homozygosity and appropriate genetic diversity for selection response and genetic merit gain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryam Nosrati
- Department of Agriculture, Payame Noor University, PO BOX 19395-3697, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Hojjat Asadollahpour Nanaei
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, PB 76169-133, Iran; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China
| | - Arash Javanmard
- Departement of Animal Sceince, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, PB 5166616471,Tabriz, Iran
| | - Ali Esmailizadeh
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, PB 76169-133, Iran.
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Dzomba EF, Chimonyo M, Pierneef R, Muchadeyi FC. Runs of homozygosity analysis of South African sheep breeds from various production systems investigated using OvineSNP50k data. BMC Genomics 2021; 22:7. [PMID: 33407115 PMCID: PMC7788743 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-020-07314-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Population history, production system and within-breed selection pressure impacts the genome architecture resulting in reduced genetic diversity and increased frequency of runs of homozygosity islands. This study tested the hypothesis that production systems geared towards specific traits of importance or natural or artificial selection pressures influenced the occurrence and distribution of runs of homozygosity (ROH) in the South African sheep population. The Illumina OvineSNP50 BeadChip was used to genotype 400 sheep belonging to 13 breeds from South Africa representing mutton, pelt and mutton and wool dual-purpose breeds, including indigenous non-descript breeds that are reared by smallholder farmers. To get more insight into the autozygosity and distribution of ROH islands of South African breeds relative to global populations, 623 genotypes of sheep from worldwide populations were included in the analysis. Runs of homozygosity were computed at cut-offs of 1–6 Mb, 6–12 Mb, 12–24 Mb, 24–48 Mb and > 48 Mb, using the R package detectRUNS. The Golden Helix SVS program was used to investigate the ROH islands. Results A total of 121,399 ROH with mean number of ROH per animal per breed ranging from 800 (African White Dorper) to 15,097 (Australian Poll Dorset) were obtained. Analysis of the distribution of ROH according to their size showed that, for all breeds, the majority of the detected ROH were in the short (1–6 Mb) category (88.2%). Most animals had no ROH > 48 Mb. Of the South African breeds, the Nguni and the Blackhead Persian displayed high ROH based inbreeding (FROH) of 0.31 ± 0.05 and 0.31 ± 0.04, respectively. Highest incidence of common runs per SNP across breeds was observed on chromosome 10 with over 250 incidences of common ROHs. Mean proportion of SNPs per breed per ROH island ranged from 0.02 ± 0.15 (island ROH224 on chromosome 23) to 0.13 ± 0.29 (island ROH175 on chromosome 15). Seventeen (17) of the islands had SNPs observed in single populations (unique ROH islands). The MacArthur Merino (MCM) population had five unique ROH islands followed by Blackhead Persian and Nguni with three each whilst the South African Mutton Merino, SA Merino, White Vital Swakara, Karakul, Dorset Horn and Chinese Merino each had one unique ROH island. Genes within ROH islands were associated with predominantly metabolic and immune response traits and predomestic selection for traits such as presence or absence of horns. Conclusions Overall, the frequency and patterns of distribution of ROH observed in this study corresponds to the breed history and implied selection pressures exposed to the sheep populations under study. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-020-07314-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- E F Dzomba
- Discipline of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209, South Africa.
| | - M Chimonyo
- Discipline of Animal & Poultry Science; School of Agricultural, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209, South Africa
| | - R Pierneef
- Agricultural Research Council, Biotechnology Platform, Private Bag X5, Onderstepoort, 0110, South Africa
| | - F C Muchadeyi
- Agricultural Research Council, Biotechnology Platform, Private Bag X5, Onderstepoort, 0110, South Africa
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Genome-Wide Analysis Revealed Homozygosity and Demographic History of Five Chinese Sheep Breeds Adapted to Different Environments. Genes (Basel) 2020; 11:genes11121480. [PMID: 33317115 PMCID: PMC7764688 DOI: 10.3390/genes11121480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2020] [Revised: 12/06/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Homozygosity of long sequence genotypes are a result of parents transmitting identical haplotypes, which can be used to estimate their auto-zygosity. Therefore, we used high-density SNP Chip data to characterize the auto-zygosity of each breed according to the occurrence and distribution of runs of homozygosity (ROH). Subsequently, we identified the genomic regions with high runs of homozygosity frequencies within individuals of each breed. We selected 96 sheep samples from five local Chinese sheep breeds belonging to different geographical locations. We identified 3046 ROHs within the study breed individuals, among which the longer segments (>1–5 Mb) were dominant. On average, ROH segments covered about 12% of the genomes; the coverage rate of OAR20 was the lowest and that of OAR2 was the highest. The distribution analysis of runs of homozygosity showed that the detected ROH mainly distributed between >26 and 28 Mb. The Hetian and Hu sheep showed the lowest ROH distribution. The estimation of homozygosity level reflects the history of modern and ancient inbreeding, which may affect the genomes of Chinese indigenous sheep breeds and indicate that some animals have experienced recent self-pollination events (Yabuyi, Karakul and Wadi). In these sheep breeds, the genomic regions were assumed to be under selection signatures frequently in line with long ROH. These regions included candidate genes associated with disease resistance traits (5S_rRNA), the innate and adaptive immune response (HERC2 and CYFIP1), digestion and metabolism (CENPJ), growth (SPP1), body size and developments (GJB2 and GJA3). This study highlighted new insights into the ROH patterns and provides a basis for future breeding and conservation strategies of Chinese sheep breeds.
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Abstract
Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are chromosomal stretches that in a diploid genome appear in a homozygous state and display identical alleles at multiple contiguous loci. This study aimed to systematically compare the genomic distribution of the ROH islands among five populations of wild vs commercial chickens of both layer and broiler type. To this end, we analyzed whole genome sequences of 115 birds including white layer (WL, n = 25), brown layer (BL, n = 25), broiler line A (BRA, n = 20), broiler line B (BRB, n = 20) and Red Junglefowl (RJF, n = 25). The ROH segments varied in size markedly among populations, ranging from 0.3 to 21.83 Mb reflecting their past genealogy. White layers contained the largest portion of the genome in homozygous state with an average ROH length of 432.1 Mb (±18.7) per bird, despite carrying it in short segments (0.3-1 Mb). Population-wise inbreeding measures based on Wright's (Fis) and genomic (FROH) metrics revealed highly inbred genome of layer lines relative to the broilers and Red Junglefowl. We further revealed the ROH islands, among commercial lines overlapped with QTL related to limb development (GREM1, MEOX2), body weight (Meis2a.1, uc_338), eggshell color (GLCCI1, ICA1, UMAD1), antibody response to Newcastle virus (ROBO2), and feather pecking. Comparison of ROH landscape in sequencing resolution demonstrated that a sizable portion of genome of commercial lines segregates in homozygote state, reflecting many generations of assortative mating and intensive selection in their recent history. In contrary, wild birds carry shorter ROH segments, likely suggestive of older evolutionary events.
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Review of Huang-huai sheep, a new multiparous mutton sheep breed first identified in China. Trop Anim Health Prod 2020; 53:35. [PMID: 33230646 PMCID: PMC7683451 DOI: 10.1007/s11250-020-02453-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Huang-huai sheep are a new multiparous mutton sheep breed that has been cultivated by domestic scientific research institutes, governments, and sheep farms in China. Huang-huai sheep were bred using Dorper sheep as a sire and Small-tailed Han sheep as a dam. The breeding of Huang-huai sheep started in 2003, and three stages have been carried out: crossbreeding innovation, fixation in a two-way-crossbred closed flock, and herd propagation. A pilot test of Huang-huai sheep was conducted on 6 sheep farms from 2017 to 2018, and hereditary properties and production performance were evaluated in 2019. Huang-huai sheep were identified on site by the National Livestock and Poultry Resources Committee of China in December 2019 and approved as a new multiparous mutton sheep breed in China. The genetic distance showed that Huang-huai sheep are most closely related to Dorper sheep, Luxi black-headed sheep, and Small-tailed Han sheep, but the genetic distances are subspecies (0.02–0.20) each other. The body weights of adult Huang-huai sheep are 98.1 ± 5.2 kg (♂) and 71.7 ± 3.5 kg (♀), and those of 6-month-old Huang-huai sheep are 58.50 ± 6.55 kg (♂) and 52.45 ± 5.67 kg (♀). The slaughter rates of 6-month-old sheep are 56.02 ± 1.25% (♂) and 53.19 ± 1.19% (♀). The estrus cycle of Huang-huai sheep is 19.32 ± 2.8 days, the first estrus cycle occurs at 168 ± 12 days, the annual lambing rate of ewes is 252.82% ± 10.69%, the survival rate of lambs is 95.79 ± 0.95%, and the number of weaned lambs per ewe per year is 2.38 ± 0.14. The growth performance, carcass quality, and reproductive performance of Huang-huai sheep have been improved, resulting in considerable economic and social benefits and broader market prospects. This breed represents a new multiparous mutton sheep breed adapted for industrial sheep farms in China.
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Li B, VanRaden PM, Null DJ, O'Connell JR, Cole JB. Major quantitative trait loci influencing milk production and conformation traits in Guernsey dairy cattle detected on Bos taurus autosome 19. J Dairy Sci 2020; 104:550-560. [PMID: 33189290 DOI: 10.3168/jds.2020-18766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
The goal of this study was to identify potential quantitative trait loci (QTL) for 27 production, fitness, and conformation traits of Guernsey cattle through genome-wide association (GWA) analyses, with extra emphasis on BTA19, where major QTL were observed for several traits. Animals' de-regressed predicted transmitting abilities (PTA) from the December 2018 traditional US evaluation were used as phenotypes. All of the Guernsey cattle included in the QTL analyses were predictor animals in the reference population, ranging from 1,077 to 1,685 animals for different traits. Single-trait GWA analyses were carried out by a mixed-model approach for all 27 traits using imputed high-density genotypes. A major QTL was detected on BTA19, influencing several milk production traits, conformation traits, and livability of Guernsey cattle, and the most significant SNP lie in the region of 26.2 to 28.3 Mb. The myosin heavy chain 10 (MYH10) gene residing within this region was found to be highly associated with milk production and body conformation traits of dairy cattle. After the initial GWA analyses, which suggested that many significant SNP are in linkage with one another, conditional analyses were used for fine mapping. The top significant SNP on BTA19 were fixed as covariables in the model, one at a time, until no more significant SNP were detected on BTA19. After this fine-mapping approach was applied, only 1 significant SNP was detected on BTA19 for most traits, but multiple, independent significant SNP were found for protein yield, dairy form, and stature. In addition, the haplotype that hosts the major QTL on BTA19 was traced to a US Guernsey born in 1954. The haplotype is common in the breed, indicating a long-term influence of this QTL on the US Guernsey population.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Li
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350
| | - P M VanRaden
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350
| | - D J Null
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350
| | - J R O'Connell
- School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore 21201
| | - J B Cole
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350.
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Xu H, Li H, Wang Z, Abudureyimu A, Yang J, Cao X, Lan X, Zang R, Cai Y. A Deletion Downstream of the CHCHD7 Gene Is Associated with Growth Traits in Sheep. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10091472. [PMID: 32825793 PMCID: PMC7552293 DOI: 10.3390/ani10091472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Revised: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary The genes CHCHD7 and PLAG1 are located on the same growth-related major quantitative trait locus of sheep. PLAG1 affects sheep growth, but no corresponding studies have been conducted on CHCHD7. However, polymorphisms in the CHCHD7 gene are associated with carcass weight and muscle formation in cattle, body height in cattle and humans, and weaning weight in Duroc pigs. In this study, the mathematical expectation method was used to analyze an 8-bp deletion mutation located downstream of the CHCHD7 gene in 2350 individuals from seven sheep breeds. The associations between wild-type and deletion genotypes and growth traits in Tan sheep were also analyzed. The 8-bp deletion locus was significantly associated with body length (p = 0.032), chest depth (p = 0.015), and chest width (p = 0.047) of Tan sheep. Additionally, wild-type genotype carriers were more numerous than those heterozygous for the deletion genotype. Thus, the genotyped 8-bp deletion downstream of the CHCHD7 gene may be associated with growth and development traits in sheep. Abstract In sheep, the coiled-coil-helix-coiled-coil-helix domain containing 7 (CHCHD7) gene and the pleiomorphic adenoma gene 1 (PLAG1) are on the same growth-related major quantitative trait locus, positioned head-to-head approximately 420 bp apart on chromosome 9. PLAG1 affects sheep growth, but the effects of CHCHD7 have not been determined. In this study, an 8-bp deletion downstream of CHCHD7 was analyzed in 2350 sheep from seven breeds. The associations between the deletion and growth traits of Tan sheep were also determined. Both genotypes (homozygous wild-type and heterozygous) for the 8-bp deletion were found in Tan (TS), Luxi Blackhead (LXBH), Small-Tail Han (STHS), and Lanzhou Fat-Tail (LFTS) sheep. However, there were no polymorphic sites for the mutation in Hu (HS), Sartuul (SS), and Australian White (AUW) sheep. In TS, LXBH, STHS, and LFTS sheep, the deletion genotype was less frequent than the wild-type genotype, and the allele frequencies of the deletion variant were 0.007 (TS), 0.011 (LBXH), 0.008 (STHS), and 0.010 (LFTS). The 8-bp deletion was significantly associated with body length (p = 0.032), chest depth (p = 0.015), and chest width (p = 0.047) in Tan sheep. Thus, the 8-bp deletion downstream of the CHCHD7 gene might be associated with growth and development traits of sheep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongwei Xu
- College of Life Science and Engineering, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China; (H.X.); (A.A.); (J.Y.); (X.C.)
- Science Experimental Center, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China
| | - Haixia Li
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China; (H.L.); (Z.W.); (X.L.)
| | - Zhen Wang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China; (H.L.); (Z.W.); (X.L.)
| | - Ayimuguli Abudureyimu
- College of Life Science and Engineering, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China; (H.X.); (A.A.); (J.Y.); (X.C.)
| | - Jutian Yang
- College of Life Science and Engineering, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China; (H.X.); (A.A.); (J.Y.); (X.C.)
| | - Xin Cao
- College of Life Science and Engineering, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China; (H.X.); (A.A.); (J.Y.); (X.C.)
- Science Experimental Center, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China
| | - Xianyong Lan
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China; (H.L.); (Z.W.); (X.L.)
| | - Rongxin Zang
- College of Life Science and Engineering, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China; (H.X.); (A.A.); (J.Y.); (X.C.)
- Correspondence: (R.Z.); (Y.C.)
| | - Yong Cai
- College of Life Science and Engineering, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China; (H.X.); (A.A.); (J.Y.); (X.C.)
- Science Experimental Center, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China
- Correspondence: (R.Z.); (Y.C.)
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Paris JM, Letko A, Häfliger IM, Ammann P, Drögemüller C. Ear type in sheep is associated with the MSRB3 locus. Anim Genet 2020; 51:968-972. [PMID: 32805068 DOI: 10.1111/age.12994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Ear morphology is an important determinant of sheep breeds. It includes different variable traits such as ear size and erectness, suggesting a polygenic architecture. Here, we performed a comprehensive genome-wide analysis to identify regions under selection for ear morphology in 515 sheep from 17 breeds fixed for diverse ear phenotypes using 34k SNP genotyping data. GWASs for two ear type traits, size and erectness, revealed a single genome-wide significant association on ovine chromosome 3. The derived marker alleles were enriched in sheep with large and/or floppy ears. The GWAS signal harboured the MSRB3 gene encoding methionine sulphoxide reductase B3, which has already been found to be associated with different ear types in other species. We attempted whole-genome resequencing to identify causal variant(s) within a 1 Mb interval around MSRB3. This experiment excluded major copy number variants in the interval, but failed to identify a compelling candidate causal variant. Fine-mapping suggested that the causal variant for large floppy ears most likely resides in a 175 kb interval downstream of the MSRB3 coding region.
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Affiliation(s)
- J M Paris
- Vetsuisse Faculty, Institute of Genetics, University of Bern, Bern, 3001, Switzerland
| | - A Letko
- Vetsuisse Faculty, Institute of Genetics, University of Bern, Bern, 3001, Switzerland
| | - I M Häfliger
- Vetsuisse Faculty, Institute of Genetics, University of Bern, Bern, 3001, Switzerland
| | - P Ammann
- ProSpecieRara, Basel, 4052, Switzerland
| | - C Drögemüller
- Vetsuisse Faculty, Institute of Genetics, University of Bern, Bern, 3001, Switzerland
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Cádiz MI, López ME, Díaz-Domínguez D, Cáceres G, Yoshida GM, Gomez-Uchida D, Yáñez JM. Whole genome re-sequencing reveals recent signatures of selection in three strains of farmed Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Sci Rep 2020; 10:11514. [PMID: 32661317 PMCID: PMC7359307 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68064-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 06/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Nile tilapia belongs to the second most cultivated group of fish in the world, mainly because of its favorable characteristics for production. Genetic improvement programs and domestication process of Nile tilapia may have modified the genome through selective pressure, leaving signals that can be detected at the molecular level. In this work, signatures of selection were identified using genome-wide SNP data, by two haplotype-based (iHS and Rsb) and one FST based method. Whole-genome re-sequencing of 326 individuals from three strains (A, B and C) of farmed tilapia maintained in Brazil and Costa Rica was carried out using Illumina HiSeq 2500 technology. After applying conventional SNP-calling and quality-control filters, ~ 1.3 M high-quality SNPs were inferred and used as input for the iHS, Rsb and FST based methods. We detected several candidate genes putatively subjected to selection in each strain. A considerable number of these genes are associated with growth (e.g. NCAPG, KLF3, TBC1D1, TTN), early development (e.g. FGFR3, PFKFB3), and immunity traits (e.g. NLRC3, PIGR, MAP1S). These candidate genes represent putative genomic landmarks that could be associated to traits of biological and commercial interest in farmed Nile tilapia.
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Affiliation(s)
- María I Cádiz
- Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Santa Rosa 11735, 8820808, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile.,Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Silvoagropecuarias y Veterinarias, Campus Sur, Universidad de Chile, Santa Rosa 11315, 8820808, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile
| | - María E López
- Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Santa Rosa 11735, 8820808, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile.,Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agriculturall Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Diego Díaz-Domínguez
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Computación, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Giovanna Cáceres
- Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Santa Rosa 11735, 8820808, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile.,Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Silvoagropecuarias y Veterinarias, Campus Sur, Universidad de Chile, Santa Rosa 11315, 8820808, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile
| | - Grazyella M Yoshida
- Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Santa Rosa 11735, 8820808, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile
| | - Daniel Gomez-Uchida
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.,Núcleo Milenio INVASAL, Concepción, Chile
| | - José M Yáñez
- Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Santa Rosa 11735, 8820808, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile. .,Núcleo Milenio INVASAL, Concepción, Chile.
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Abied A, Bagadi A, Bordbar F, Pu Y, Augustino SM, Xue X, Xing F, Gebreselassie G, Han JL, Mwacharo JM, Ma Y, Zhao Q. Genomic Diversity, Population Structure, and Signature of Selection in Five Chinese Native Sheep Breeds Adapted to Extreme Environments. Genes (Basel) 2020; 11:genes11050494. [PMID: 32365888 PMCID: PMC7290715 DOI: 10.3390/genes11050494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2020] [Revised: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Through long term natural and artificial selection, domestic sheep (Ovis aries) have become adapted to a diverse range of agro-ecological environments and display multiple phenotypic traits. Characterization of diversity and selection signature is essential for genetic improvement, understanding of environmental adaptation, as well as utilization and conservation of sheep genetic resources. Here, we aimed to assess genomic diversity, population structure, and genomic selection among five Chinese native sheep breeds using 600K high density SNP genotypes. A total of 96 animals of the five breeds were selected from different geographical locations with extremely dry or humid conditions. We found a high proportion of informative SNPs, ranging from 93.3% in Yabuyi to 95.5% in Wadi, Hu, and Hetian sheep. The average pairwise population differentiation (FST) between the breeds was 0.048%, ranging from 0.022% to 0.054%, indicating their low to moderate differentiation. PCA, ADMIXTURE, and phylogenetic tree analyses revealed a clustering pattern of the five Chinese sheep breeds according to their geographical distribution, tail type, coat color, body size, and breeding history. The genomic regions under putative selection identified by FST and XP-EHH approaches frequently overlapped across the breeds, and spanned genes associated with adaptation to extremely dry or humid environments, innate and adaptive immune responses, and growth, wool, milk, and reproduction traits. The present study offers novel insight into genomic adaptation to dry and humid climates in sheep among other domestic animals and provides a valuable resource for further investigation. Moreover, it contributes useful information to sustainable utilization and conservation of sheep genetic resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Abied
- Institute of Animal Science (IAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China; (A.A.); (F.B.); (Y.P.); (X.X.); (G.G.); (Y.M.)
- Dry Land Research Center (DLRC) and Animal Production, Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), Wad Madani 511, Sudan;
| | - Alnoor Bagadi
- Dry Land Research Center (DLRC) and Animal Production, Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), Wad Madani 511, Sudan;
| | - Farhad Bordbar
- Institute of Animal Science (IAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China; (A.A.); (F.B.); (Y.P.); (X.X.); (G.G.); (Y.M.)
| | - Yabin Pu
- Institute of Animal Science (IAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China; (A.A.); (F.B.); (Y.P.); (X.X.); (G.G.); (Y.M.)
| | - Serafino M.A. Augustino
- College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University (CAU), Beijing 100193, China;
| | - Xianglan Xue
- Institute of Animal Science (IAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China; (A.A.); (F.B.); (Y.P.); (X.X.); (G.G.); (Y.M.)
| | - Feng Xing
- College of Animal Science, Talimu University (TU), Xinjiang, Alar 843300, China;
| | - Gebremedhin Gebreselassie
- Institute of Animal Science (IAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China; (A.A.); (F.B.); (Y.P.); (X.X.); (G.G.); (Y.M.)
| | - Jian-Lin Han
- CAAS-ILRI Joint Laboratory on Livestock and Forage Genetic Resources, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China;
- Livestock Genetics Program, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | - Joram M. Mwacharo
- International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Addis Ababa 1108-2010, Ethiopia;
| | - Yuehui Ma
- Institute of Animal Science (IAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China; (A.A.); (F.B.); (Y.P.); (X.X.); (G.G.); (Y.M.)
| | - Qianjun Zhao
- Institute of Animal Science (IAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China; (A.A.); (F.B.); (Y.P.); (X.X.); (G.G.); (Y.M.)
- Correspondence:
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Genome-Wide Scan for Runs of Homozygosity Identifies Candidate Genes Related to Economically Important Traits in Chinese Merino. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10030524. [PMID: 32245132 PMCID: PMC7143548 DOI: 10.3390/ani10030524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2020] [Revised: 03/17/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are commonly used to estimate inbreeding coefficients and identify selection signatures in livestock population. The present study determined ROH patterns, estimated the inbreeding levels, and identified the genome regions with high ROH frequency (ROH hotspots) in Chinese Merino. Our results showed that the genome of Chinese Merino harbored lower ROH abundance. Moreover, the inbreeding levels were relatively low. Thirteen ROH hotspots consisting of 190 genes were identified. The ROH hotspots overlapped the selective signatures might be associated with body size, horn traits, immune traits and environment adaption. These findings could contribute to an optimum breeding program by identifying the candidate genes related to economically traits in Chinese Merino. Abstract In this study, we estimated the number, length, and frequency of runs of homozygosity (ROH) in 635 Chinese Merino and identified genomic regions with high ROH frequency using the OvineSNP50 whole-genome genotyping array. A total of 6039 ROH exceeding 1 Mb were detected in 634 animals. The average number of ROH in each animal was 9.23 and the average length was 5.87 Mb. Most of the ROH were less than 10 Mb, accounting for 88.77% of the total number of detected ROH. In addition, Ovies aries chromosome (OAR) 21 and OAR3 exhibited the highest and lowest coverage of chromosomes by ROH, respectively. OAR1 displayed the highest number of ROH, while the lowest number of ROH was found on OAR24. An inbreeding coefficient of 0.023 was calculated from ROH greater than 1 Mb. Thirteen regions on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, and 16 were found to contain ROH hotspots. Within the genome regions of OAR6 and OAR11, NCAPG/LCORL, FGF11 and TP53 were identified as the candidate genes related to body size, while the genome region of OAR10 harbored RXFP2 gene responsible for the horn trait. These findings indicate the adaptive to directional trait selection in Chinese Merino.
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Saif R, Henkel J, Jagannathan V, Drögemüller C, Flury C, Leeb T. The LCORL Locus is under Selection in Large-Sized Pakistani Goat Breeds. Genes (Basel) 2020; 11:genes11020168. [PMID: 32033434 PMCID: PMC7074466 DOI: 10.3390/genes11020168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Revised: 01/29/2020] [Accepted: 01/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Goat domestication and human selection for valued traits have formed diverse breeds with characteristic phenotypes. This process led to the fixation of causative genetic variants controlling breed-specific traits within regions of reduced genetic diversity-so-called "selection signatures". We previously reported an analysis of selection signatures based on pooled whole-genome sequencing data of 20 goat breeds and bezoar goats. In the present study, we reanalyzed the data and focused on a subset of eight Pakistani goat breeds (Angora, Barbari, Beetal, Dera Din Panah, Kamori, Nachi, Pahari, Teddy). We identified 749 selection signatures based on reduced heterozygosity in these breeds. A search for signatures that are shared across large-sized goat breeds revealed that five medium-to-large-sized Pakistani goat breeds had a common selection signature on chromosome 6 in a region harboring the LCORL gene, which has been shown to modulate height or body size in several mammalian species. Fine-mapping of the region confirmed that all five goat breeds with the selection signature were nearly fixed for the same haplotype in a ~191 kb region spanning positions 37,747,447-37,938,449. From the pool sequencing data, we identified a frame-shifting single base insertion into an isoform-specific exon of LCORL as a potential candidate causal variant mediating the size-increasing effect. If this preliminary result can be confirmed in independent replication studies, genotyping of this variant might be used to improve breeding programs and the selection for stature in goats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rashid Saif
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (R.S.); (J.H.); (V.J.); (C.D.)
- Institute of Biotechnology, Gulab Devi Educational Complex, Lahore 54000, Pakistan
| | - Jan Henkel
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (R.S.); (J.H.); (V.J.); (C.D.)
| | - Vidhya Jagannathan
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (R.S.); (J.H.); (V.J.); (C.D.)
| | - Cord Drögemüller
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (R.S.); (J.H.); (V.J.); (C.D.)
| | - Christine Flury
- School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, Bern University of Applied Sciences, 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland;
| | - Tosso Leeb
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (R.S.); (J.H.); (V.J.); (C.D.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +41-31-631-23-26
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