A Population Genomics Analysis of the Native Irish Galway Sheep Breed

The Galway sheep population is the only native Irish sheep breed and this livestock genetic resource is currently categorised as 'at-risk'. In the present study, comparative population genomics analyses of Galway sheep and other sheep populations of European origin were used to investigate...

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Veröffentlicht in:Frontiers in genetics Jg. 10; S. 927
Hauptverfasser: McHugo, Gillian P., Browett, Sam, Randhawa, Imtiaz A. S., Howard, Dawn J., Mullen, Michael P., Richardson, Ian W., Park, Stephen D. E., Magee, David A., Scraggs, Erik, Dover, Michael J., Correia, Carolina N., Hanrahan, James P., MacHugh, David E.
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Frontiers Media S.A 08.10.2019
Schlagworte:
at-risk breed
conservation genomics
genetic diversity
Genetics
inbreeding
livestock
selection signature
ISSN:1664-8021, 1664-8021
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Zusammenfassung:The Galway sheep population is the only native Irish sheep breed and this livestock genetic resource is currently categorised as 'at-risk'. In the present study, comparative population genomics analyses of Galway sheep and other sheep populations of European origin were used to investigate the microevolution and recent genetic history of the breed. These analyses support the hypothesis that British Leicester sheep were used in the formation of the Galway. When compared to conventional and endangered breeds, the Galway breed was intermediate in effective population size, genomic inbreeding and runs of homozygosity. This indicates that, although the Galway breed is declining, it is still relatively genetically diverse and that conservation and management plans informed by genomic information may aid its recovery. The Galway breed also exhibited distinct genomic signatures of artificial or natural selection when compared to other breeds, which highlighted candidate genes that may be involved in production and health traits.The Galway sheep population is the only native Irish sheep breed and this livestock genetic resource is currently categorised as 'at-risk'. In the present study, comparative population genomics analyses of Galway sheep and other sheep populations of European origin were used to investigate the microevolution and recent genetic history of the breed. These analyses support the hypothesis that British Leicester sheep were used in the formation of the Galway. When compared to conventional and endangered breeds, the Galway breed was intermediate in effective population size, genomic inbreeding and runs of homozygosity. This indicates that, although the Galway breed is declining, it is still relatively genetically diverse and that conservation and management plans informed by genomic information may aid its recovery. The Galway breed also exhibited distinct genomic signatures of artificial or natural selection when compared to other breeds, which highlighted candidate genes that may be involved in production and health traits.
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Reviewed by: Marco Tolone, University of Palermo, Italy; Emiliano Lasagna, University of Perugia, Italy
This article was submitted to Livestock Genomics, a section of the journal Frontiers in Genetics
Present address: Sam Browett, Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre, School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom; Imtiaz A. S. Randhawa, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, Australia; Dawn J. Howard, Michael P. Mullen, Department of Life and Physical Sciences, Athlone Institute of Technology, Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland; James P. Hanrahan, UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
Edited by: Francesca Bertolini, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
ISSN:1664-8021
1664-8021
DOI:10.3389/fgene.2019.00927