Ovis aries Genome sequencing 30X. Ovis aries breed:AMS

Concerted, long-term artificial breeding has given fine-wool sheep excellent characteristics such as horns, high-quality wool traits and high altitude and low oxygen adaptability. These are complex traits determined by multiple genes, regulatory pathways and environmental factors. To identify candidate genes for horn and adaptability traits on fine-wool sheep, whole-genome variants of 32 individuals from four breeds, including those polled and horn, and from different elevations and habitats in China, were analyzed using whole-genome resequencing and selective sweeps. Common differential single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified among the four breeds. Via gene function annotation, we found that a list of variants and candidate genes were significantly correlated with the horn and high altitude and low oxygen adaption traits of fine-wool sheep, which revealed the genetic basis of the formation of traits and provides a reference for future gene editing design and genomic selection programs.