Genomic Analysis of Hair Sheep From West/Central Africa Reveals Unique Genetic Diversity and Ancestral Links to Breed Formation in the Caribbean.

ABSTRACT: Cameroon Blackbelly sheep are a domestic breed of hair sheep from West/Central Africa. They are popular with small-holder farmers in Cameroon as they are highly resilient to local environmental challenges and are prolific a-seasonal breeders. The aim of this study was to characterise the genetics of Cameroon Blackbelly sheep in relation to global sheep populations and to investigate their relationship to Caribbean hair sheep. We first examined the genetic diversity of the Cameroon Blackbelly breed relative to global sheep populations using 50K SNP data. We also used whole genome sequence data to further investigate relationships between Cameroon Blackbelly and breeds from Africa and Europe, as well as the Barbados Blackbelly breed from the Caribbean, which is phenotypically similar to Came

SUBMITTER: Wiener P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12717993 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature