PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The native Spanish Merino breed was the founder of all the other Merino and Merino-derived breeds worldwide. Despite the fact that this breed was created and improved to produce the highest quality fine wool, the global wool market crisis led to the wholescale crossing of most of the herds with breeds for meat purposes. Nevertheless, there are still some purebred animals with a high potential for producing quality wool. The objective of this study was to characterize the current wool quality of the breed and identify genes associated with these parameters. To achieve this, over 12,800 records from the most representative animals of the breed (registered in the herd book) were analyzed using the Australian OFDA 2000 system, for parameters such as fiber diameter (FD), standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV), fibers over 15 microns (>15%), staple length (SL), and comfort factor (CRV). Additionally, animals with the most extreme FD values were whole-genome sequenced using NGS. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) determined the association of 74 variants with the different traits studied, which were located in 70 different genes. Of these genes, EDN2, COL18A1, and LRP1B, associated with fibers over 15%, and FGF12 and ADAM17, associated with SL, play a key role in hair follicle growth and development. Our study reveals the great potential for recovering this breed for fine wool production, and identifies five candidate genes whose understanding may aid in that selection process.
摘要：
当地的西班牙美利诺品种是全球所有其他美利诺和美利诺衍生品种的创始人。尽管该品种被创造和改进以生产最高质量的细羊毛，全球羊毛市场危机导致大多数牛群与肉类品种杂交。然而，仍然有一些纯种动物具有生产优质羊毛的潜力。这项研究的目的是表征该品种的当前羊毛质量，并鉴定与这些参数相关的基因。为了实现这一点，使用澳大利亚OFDA2000系统分析了来自该品种中最具代表性的动物（在牧群书中注册）的12,800多条记录，对于光纤直径(FD)等参数，标准偏差(SD)，变异系数(CV)，纤维超过15微米（>15%），订书钉长度（SL），和舒适因素（CRV）。此外,使用NGS对具有最极端FD值的动物进行全基因组测序。全基因组关联研究（GWAS）确定了74种变体与所研究的不同性状的关联，它们位于70个不同的基因中。在这些基因中，EDN2、COL18A1和LRP1B,与超过15%的纤维相关，以及与SL相关的FGF12和ADAM17，在毛囊的生长发育中起关键作用。我们的研究揭示了回收该品种用于细羊毛生产的巨大潜力，并确定了五个候选基因，它们的理解可能有助于选择过程。
