Detection and Analysis of RXFP2 Gene SNPs Related to Horn Trait of Oula Sheep
The aim of this study was to analyze the regulatory effect of RXFP2 gene on horned phenotype and related SNP markers in horned and hornless Oula sheep populations,in order to provide technical support for genetic improvement and breed breeding of Oula sheep.DNA was extracted from 100 ewe blood samples of healthy adult Oula sheep in Henan County,Qinghai Province,including 50 blood samples with horns and 50 blood samples with-out horns,respectively,15 samples with and without horns were randomly selected for whole genome sequencing,and then all blood samples were amplified by multiple PCR to verify the SNPs of RXFP2 gene.Genome-wide detection results showed that there were strong selection signals in chromosome 10 of Oula sheep,including RXFP2 gene,and the strongest selection signals appeared in the RXFP2 gene segment.Multiple PCR tests verified the accuracy of the 4 coding SNPs screened by whole genome resequencing.Seven high frequency SNPs in the intron region of RXFP2 gene were detected in Oula sheep(29508704G>A,29509428A>C,29509766G>A,29512170G>A,2951276G>A,29514968T>A,29521377C>A).The genotypes of the 7 SNP loci were separated in hornless phenotypes.100%of homozygous genotypes appeared horned or hornless trait,89.66%of heterozygous genotypes were hornless trait and 10.34%were horned trait.The frequency of mutant alleles was less than that of wild alleles,and the population showed an unbalanced state of Hardy-Weinberg,which meant subject to high artificial selection intensity,but the con-tent of polymorphic information was moderate,and the potential of breeding and improvement was still large.In con-clusion,the present study confirmed the strong regulatory effect of RXFP2 gene on horn trait in Oula sheep,and fil-tered out 7 molecular markers of RXFP2 gene on horn trait in Oula sheep population.The relevant results can be used as molecular markers for genetic improvement of the hornless population of Oula sheep.