Genome-wide analysis of the world's sheep breeds reveals high levels of historic mixture and strong recent selection

Through their domestication and subsequent selection, sheep have been adapted to thrive in a diverse range of environments. To characterise the genetic consequence of both domestication and selection, we genotyped 49,034 SNP in 2,819 animals from a diverse collection of 74 sheep breeds. We find the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS biology 2012-02, Vol.10 (2), p.e1001258-e1001258
Main Authors: Kijas, James W, Lenstra, Johannes A, Hayes, Ben, Boitard, Simon, Porto Neto, Laercio R, San Cristobal, Magali, Servin, Bertrand, McCulloch, Russell, Whan, Vicki, Gietzen, Kimberly, Paiva, Samuel, Barendse, William, Ciani, Elena, Raadsma, Herman, McEwan, John, Dalrymple, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Animal genetics
Animals
Artificial insemination
Asia
Biology
Body size
Breeding
Cattle
Domestic animals
Domestication
Europe
Gene Frequency
Genetic aspects
Genetic diversity
Genome
Genomes
Genomics
Genotypes
Handlers
Haplotypes
Horns
Life Sciences
Livestock
Meat
Milk
Models, Genetic
Natural selection
Phylogeny
Phylogeography
Physiological aspects
Pigmentation
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Population
Principal Component Analysis
Quantitative genetics
R&D
Reproduction
Research & development
Selection, Genetic
Sheep
Sheep - genetics
Single-nucleotide polymorphism
Wool
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Summary:Through their domestication and subsequent selection, sheep have been adapted to thrive in a diverse range of environments. To characterise the genetic consequence of both domestication and selection, we genotyped 49,034 SNP in 2,819 animals from a diverse collection of 74 sheep breeds. We find the majority of sheep populations contain high SNP diversity and have retained an effective population size much higher than most cattle or dog breeds, suggesting domestication occurred from a broad genetic base. Extensive haplotype sharing and generally low divergence time between breeds reveal frequent genetic exchange has occurred during the development of modern breeds. A scan of the genome for selection signals revealed 31 regions containing genes for coat pigmentation, skeletal morphology, body size, growth, and reproduction. We demonstrate the strongest selection signal has occurred in response to breeding for the absence of horns. The high density map of genetic variability provides an in-depth view of the genetic history for this important livestock species.
ISSN:1545-7885
1544-9173
1545-7885
DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001258