Jabal Akhtar goats SNP genotypes

The objectives of the study were to identify SNPs associated with body size measurements in Jabal Akhdar Omani female goats. Seventy-two Jabal Akhdar Omani female goats were genotyped for the current study using the Illumina GoatSNP50 BeadChip, which contains 53,347 SNPs. After genotypic data filtration, the number of SNPs remaining for analysis was 46,035 SNPs belonging to 29 autosomes. Body size phenotypes used in the present study were withers height (WH), rump height (RH), Body Length (BL), Sternum height (SH), body depth (BD), Bicoastal diameter (BID), Ear Length (EL), Rump width (RW), Head width (HW), Rump Length (RL), Head Length (HL), Head Girth (HG), Cannon bone circumference (CC), Muzzle Diameter (MD), and finally the first principal component for all previous body measurements (PC1). Genome Wide Association Analysis (GWAS) of body measurements was performed using the GenABEL package in R software. A multiple testing correction approach (simpleM) was used to adjust for multiple testing of SNPs. Later, BioMart-Ensamble was used to look for candidate genes within 100 kb upstream and downstream of the significant SNPs. Fifty-one SNPs were identified in the current study for all studied traits except WH, BL, HG and CC. The identified SNPs were linked to 90 genes that have different functions related to protein, lipid, and carbohydrate metabolism, in addition to ion binding, mineral transportation, early growth and reproduction. Consequently, these genes could play vital roles in Jabal Akhdar goats' growth and possibly other goat breeds. To our knowledge, this is the first GWAS in body measurements in Omani goats.