AUTHOR=Xu Hongwei , Akhmet Nazar , Luo Yunyun , Guo Zhenggang , Pan Chuanying , Song Enliang , Malmakov Nurlan , Akhatayeva Zhanerke , Lan Xianyong 

TITLE=Are two beneficial mutations (p.Q249R and 90-bp Indel) within the ovine BMPRIB gene associated with growth traits?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1280548

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2023.1280548

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>The problem of achieving economic efficiency in sheep breeding can be largely solved by increasing sheep productivity. Recently, the <italic>BMPRIB</italic> gene has been revealed by GWAS as a potential candidate gene for sheep body morphometric traits. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether genetic polymorphisms (p.Q249R SNP and 90-bp deletion) in the <italic>BMPRIB</italic> gene are associated with sheep growth traits.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>PCR-based genotyping was performed on 1,875 sheep, including 1,191 Guiqian semi-fine wool (GQSFW), 560 Luxi Blackhead (LXBH), 55 Lanzhou fat-tailed (LZFT), and 69 Weining (WN) sheep. Genotype–phenotype association was assessed using the independent samples <italic>t</italic>-test and ANOVA. The significance level was set at α<sub>original</sub> &lt; 0.05. The threshold <italic>p</italic>-value for significance was adjusted after correction for multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni correction.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>After the Bonferroni correction, it was found that individuals with FecB<sup>+</sup>/FecB<sup>+</sup> genotypes of the p.Q249R had significantly better growth traits in LXBH ewe lambs, including the body length, chest width, paunch girth, cannon circumference, and hip width (<italic>P</italic>&lt;0.0005). Meanwhile, associations were observed between 90-bp deletion polymorphism and several growth traits (body length, body height, chest depth, and canon circumference) in GQSFW ewe adults after the Bonferroni correction (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.0002), and individuals with the “DD” genotypes had greater growth traits.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Our findings align with the experimental observations from GWAS, which identified the <italic>BMPRIB</italic> gene as a potential candidate gene for body measurement traits. These findings not only confirm the previous study's results but also expand on them. Therefore, further investigations regarding the impact of <italic>BMPRIB</italic> polymorphisms on growth traits are necessary in other sheep breeds.</p></sec>