a. Key Laboratory of Genetic Breeding and Reproduction for Cashmere Goat and wool sheep in Xinjiang, Xinjiang Academy of Animal Sciences, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830000, China;
b. State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China
Funds:
This study was supported by Design and breeding of high-quality and disease-resistant cashmere sheep of National Science and technology major project (2023ZD0405101), Technical System of agricultural industry in autonomous region (XJARS-09-06), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Sheep and Goat Engineering Research Center, Promotion of modern livestock and poultry seed industry in the autonomous region-the dual-purpose wool seed industry plan in the autonomous region (2024XJRMY-02), and the Special Fund project of the central government guiding the development of local science and technology: the construction of China-Kazakhstan livestock germplasm resources mining and innovative technology research base (ZYYD2023B14).
Breeding sheep with superior growth performance and wool quality is essential for the sustainability of the fine-wool sheep industry. In this study, we perform low-coverage whole-genome sequencing (lcWGS) on 3842 individuals from 5 sheep breeds (4 fine-wool and 1 semi-fine wool) and generate a large genomic dataset. By comparing these breeds with coarse-wool sheep, we characterize the genomic landscape and selection signatures of fine-wool sheep. We identify several known functional genes associated with hair follicle development and skin morphology, including EGFR, KRT74, EDAR, EREG, and GLI2. Furthermore, GWAS of 19 traits identifies 156 candidate genes significantly associated with growth and wool characteristics, including LCORL for body size, EGFR for clean wool yield, and PRDM1 for fiber diameter. Notably, EGFR is detected in both GWAS and selection signature analyses, indicating its important role in phenotype formation and historical selection. Overall, our findings reveal the genetic basis of growth and wool traits in fine-wool and semi-fine wool sheep, highlight EGFR, LCORL, and PRDM1 as candidate genes, and provide valuable genomic resources and candidate markers for future functional validation and molecular breeding.
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