Multivariate Analysis Identifies Eight Novel Loci Associated with Meat Productivity Traits in Sheep.

Despite their economic value, sheep remain relatively poorly studied animals in terms of the number of known loci and genes associated with commercially important traits. This gap in our knowledge can be filled in by performing new genome-wide association studies (GWAS) or by re-analyzing previously documented data using novel powerful statistical methods. This study is focused on the search for new loci associated with meat productivity and carcass traits in sheep. With a multivariate approach applied to publicly available GWAS results, we identified eight novel loci associated with the meat productivity and carcass traits in sheep. Using an in silico follow-up approach, we prioritized 13 genes in these loci. One of eight novel loci near the FAM3C and WNT16 genes has been replicated in an independent sample of Russian sheep populations (N = 108). The novel loci were added to our regularly updated database increasing the number of known loci to more than 140.

Recent advances in understanding genetic variants associated with growth, carcass and meat productivity traits in sheep (Ovis aries): an update.

Identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes that affect growth intensity is a prerequisite for the marker-assisted selection of economically important traits. The number of QTL studies on sheep is relatively small in comparison to those on cattle and pigs. The current QTL sheep database - Sheep QTLdb - contains information on 1658 QTLs for 225 different traits. A few genes and markers associated with growth, carcass and meat productivity traits have been reported. The information about QTLs from the Sheep QTLdb cannot be directly used in marker-assisted selection due to the lack of essential information such as effective and reference alleles, the effect direction etc., and it requires manual curation and validation. In this study we performed a comprehensive search for QTLs focusing on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with growth and meat traits in sheep. The database contains information about 156 SNP-trait associations (123 unique SNPs) and a list of 165 associated genes. The updated information is freely available at https://github.com/Defrag1236/Ovines_2018 (last access: 18 September 2019). This information can be useful for further association studies and preliminary estimation of genetic variability for economically important traits in different breeds.