Sumatera Composite (SC) sheep and Barbados Black Belly cross (BC) are two that have half the genetics of local (SL) sheep. Populations with partially same genetic composition sometimes difficult to distinguish. Based on female body size sheep, an analysis was carried out distinguish three breed relationship. The research conducted using SC, BC SL ewe measured in weight 8 sizes. Analysis varianc...

Santa Inês is the most common hair sheep breed in Brazil and probably has the highest genetic diversity among sheep breeds in this country. Successful breeding programs for Brazilian sheep breeds are not common for various reasons, including a lack of control of parentage in the flocks. We developed an allele frequency database for 23 STR loci for the Santa Inês breed based on 285 animals ...

When domesticated species are not reproductively isolated from their wild relatives, the opportunity arises for artificially selected variants to be re-introduced into the wild. However, the evolutionary consequences of introgression of domesticated genes back into the wild are poorly understood. By combining high-throughput genotyping with 25 years of long-term ecological field data, we descri...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators in miRNA-mediated gene regulatory networks and play important roles in many biological processes, such as growth and development of mammals. In this study, we used microarrays to detect 261 miRNAs that are expressed in sheep skeletal muscle. We found 22 miRNAs that showed high levels of expression and equated to 89% of the total miRNA. Genetic variations in...

The aim of this study was to perform molecular and bioinformatics analysis of IGFBP2 gene promoter in association with some economic traits in indigenous Makuee (MS) and Lori-Bakhtiari (LB) breeds. DNA was extracted from blood samples of 120 MS and 200 LB and a 297 bp fragment from the upstream sequences of studied gene was amplified and genotyped by single-strand conformational polymo...

This paper examines the known immunological and genetic factors associated with sheep resistance to infection by Haemonchus contortus. Such resistance is an inheritable genetic trait (h(2), 0.22-0.63) associated with certain sheep breeds. Resistant sheep do not completely reject the disease; they only harbor fewer parasites than susceptible sheep and therefore have a lower fecal egg count. Prot...

Critically endangered breeds and populations are often crossed with more common breeds or subspecies. This results in genetic admixture that can be undesirable when it challenges the genetic integrity of wild and domestic populations, causing a loss in special characteristics or unique genetic material and ultimately extinction. Here, we present two genomic selection strategies, using genome-wi...