Effects of nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms of the,andgenes on the growth traits of Ujumqin sheep.

Abstract

Sheep body size can directly reflect the growth rates and fattening rates of sheep and is also an important index for measuring the growth performance of meat sheep. In this study, high-resolution resequencing data from four sheep breeds (Dorper sheep, Suffolk sheep, Ouessant sheep, and Shetland sheep) were analyzed. The nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms of three candidate genes (,, and) were also genotyped in 642 healthy Ujumqin sheep using MALDI-TOFMS and the genotyping results were associated with growth traits. The results showed that different genotypes of theg.24429511T>C locus had significant effects on the chest circumferences of Ujumqin sheep. Theg.62222626C>A locus had different effects on the chest depths, shoulder widths and rump widths of Ujumqin sheep. This study showed that these two sites can be used for marker-assisted selection, which will be beneficial for future precision molecular breeding.