Adaptations to climate-mediated selective pressures in sheep.

ABSTRACT: Following domestication, sheep (Ovis aries) have become essential farmed animals across the world through adaptation to a diverse range of environments and varied production systems. Climate-mediated selective pressure has shaped phenotypic variation and has left genetic "footprints" in the genome of breeds raised in different agroecological zones. Unlike numerous studies that have searched for evidence of selection using only population genetics data, here, we conducted an integrated coanalysis of environmental data with single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variation. By examining 49,034 SNPs from 32 old, autochthonous sheep breeds that are adapted to a spectrum of different regional climates, we identified 230 SNPs with evidence for selection that is likely due to climate-mediated pressu

SUBMITTER: Lv FH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4245822 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature