Genome-Wide Scan of Wool Production Traits in Akkaraman Sheep

The objective of this study was to uncover the genetic background of wool quality, a production trait, by estimating genomic heritability and implementing GWAS in Akkaraman sheep. The wool characteristics measured included fibre diameter (FD) and staple length (SL) at the age of 8 months and yearling fibre diameter (YFD), yearling staple length (YSL) and yearling greasy fleece weight (YGFW) at 18 months of age. Animals were genotyped using the Axiom 50 K Ovine Genotyping Array. Maximum likelihood estimations of a linear mixed model (LMM) were used to estimate genomic heritability, where GWAS was conducted following a score test of each trait. Genomic heritability estimates for the traits ranged between 0.22 and 0.63, indicating that phenotypes have a moderate range of heritability. One genome- and six chromosome-wide significant SNPs were associated with the wool traits in Akkaraman lambs. Accordingly, TRIM2, MND1, TLR2, RNF175, CEP290, TMTC3, RERE, SLC45A1, SOX2, MORN1, SKI, FAAP20, PRKCZ, GABRD, CFAP74, CALML6 and TMEM52 genes as well as nine uncharacterized regions (LOC101118971, LOC105609137, LOC105603067, LOC101122892, LOC106991694, LOC106991467, LOC106991455, LOC105616534 and LOC105609719) were defined as plausible candidates. The findings of this study shed light on the genetics of wool quality and yield for the Akkaraman breed and suggests targets for breeders during systematic breeding programmes.