Animals (Sep 2023)

Whole-Genome Resequencing Reveals Selection Signal Related to Sheep Wool Fineness

  • Wentao Zhang,
  • Meilin Jin,
  • Taotao Li,
  • Zengkui Lu,
  • Huihua Wang,
  • Zehu Yuan,
  • Caihong Wei

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13182944
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 18
p. 2944

Abstract

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Wool fineness affects the quality of wool, and some studies have identified about forty candidate genes that affect sheep wool fineness, but these genes often reveal only a certain proportion of the variation in wool thickness. We further explore additional genes associated with the fineness of sheep wool. Whole-genome resequencing of eight sheep breeds was performed to reveal selection signals associated with wool fineness, including four coarse wool and four fine/semi-fine wool sheep breeds. Multiple methods to reveal selection signals (Fst and θπ Ratio and XP-EHH) were applied for sheep wool fineness traits. In total, 269 and 319 genes were annotated in the fine wool (F vs. C) group and the coarse wool (C vs. F) group, such as LGR4, PIK3CA, and SEMA3C and NFIB, OPHN1, and THADA. In F vs. C, 269 genes were enriched in 15 significant GO Terms (p p p p < 0.05), such as negative regulation of focal adhesion assembly (GO: 0051895) and Axon guidance (oas 04360). Our study has uncovered genomic information pertaining to significant traits in sheep and has identified valuable candidate genes. This will pave the way for subsequent investigations into related traits.

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