A genome scan for quantitative trait loci affecting body conformation traits in Spanish Churra dairy sheep

A genome scan for chromosomal regions influencing body conformation traits was conducted for a population of Spanish Churra dairy sheep following a daughter design. A total of 739 ewes from 11 half-sib sire families were included in the study. The ewes were scored for the 5 linear traits used in the breeding scheme of the Churra breed to assess body conformation: stature, rear legs-rear view, foot angle, rump width, and general appearance. All the animals, including the 11 sires, were genotyped for 181 microsatellite markers evenly distributed across the 26 sheep autosomes. Using the yield deviations of the raw scores adjusted for fixed factors as phenotypic measurements, a quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis was performed on the basis of a multi-marker regression method. Seven suggestive QTL were identified on chromosomes Ovis aries (OAR)2, OAR5, OAR16, OAR23, and OAR26, but none reached a genome-wise significance level. Putative QTL were identified for all of the traits analyzed, except for general appearance score. The suggestive QTL showing the highest test statistic influenced rear legs-rear view and was localized on OAR16, close to the growth hormone receptor coding gene, GHR. Some of the putative linkage associations reported here are consistent with previously reported QTL in cattle for similar traits. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first report of QTL for body conformation traits in dairy sheep; further studies will be needed to confirm and redefine the linkage associations reported herein. It is expected that future genome-wide association analyses of larger families will help identify genes underlying these putative genetic effects and provide useful markers for marker-assisted selection of such functional traits.