Study on the polymorphism of POU1F1 gene in sheep

ABSTRACT In this study, POU1F1 gene polymorphism was detected in five sheep populations (large-tailed Han, small-tailed Han, Yuxi fat-tailed, Lanzhou large-tailed, and Mongolian sheep), using DNA pooling and sequencing, to provide theoretical basis for the breeding of excellent sheep varieties. Three single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci of POU1F1 gene were detected in five sheep populations, namely C355T (C/T), C71G (C/G), and C330G (C/G). C and T frequencies of C355T were 0.67/0.33, 0.81/0.19, 0.67/0.33, 1.00/0.00, and 0.93/0.07, respectively, in large-tailed Han, small-tailed Han, Yuxi fat-tailed, Mongolian, and Lanzhou large-tailed sheep. C of C355T locus was the dominant allele in five sheep populations. C and G allele frequencies of C330G locus were detected in Yuxi fat-tailed sheep; their frequencies were 0.75 and 0.25, respectively. C and G allele of C71G locus were only detected in Yuxi fat-tailed and large-tailed Han sheep; their frequencies were 0.87/0.13 and 0.87/0.13, respectively. The cluster analysis based on POU1F1 gene sequence showed that bactrian camel, dromedary, and wild camel clustered first, and dolphin and killer whales clustered according to taxonomy. Although the four species Tibetan antelope, buffalo, goat, and sheep were alone, they got close and the relative genetic relationship was intimate according to the dendrogram. The mutation site analysis of the POU1F1 gene in five sheep populations in this study would be favorable for uncovering the function of POU1F1 gene deeply.