AUTHOR=Chessari Giorgio , Criscione Andrea , Tolone Marco , Bordonaro Salvatore , Rizzuto Ilaria , Riggio Silvia , Macaluso Vito , Moscarelli Angelo , Portolano Baldassare , Sardina Maria Teresa , Mastrangelo Salvatore TITLE=High-density SNP markers elucidate the genetic divergence and population structure of Noticiana sheep breed in the Mediterranean context JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science VOLUME=10 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1127354 DOI=10.3389/fvets.2023.1127354 ISSN=2297-1769 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