Genome-wide identification of selection signals in fat-tailed and thin-tailed sheep populations.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

In the evolutionary context of sheep, the development of fat tails represents an adaptive survival mechanism in response to varying food availability. Despite food resource instability, sheep store energy by accumulating tail fat to survive periods of famine. This energy storage function remains present in domesticated sheep, serving as a key evolutionary reason for the formation of sheep tail fat.

Methods

Here, we conducted whole-genome resequencing of 555 sheep samples (30 samples were newly sequenced and 525 were retrieved from published data) globally to investigate selection signatures associated with fat-tailed traits using Fixation Index (F_ST), Nucleotide diversity (π), cross-population composite likelihood ratio (XP-CLR), and runs of homozygos

SUBMITTER: Gao L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12575197 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature