Abstract
The Saryarka sheep breed is one of the fat-tailed, coarse-wool sheep breeds raised in Kazakhstan, known for its high meat productivity and fertility. Live weight and morphometric traits (body indices) are essential phenotypic indicators in breeding programs, especially for improving meat yield.This study aimed to identify genome-wide associations (GWAS) between SNP markers and live weight as well as five major morphometric traits (interzygomatic width, loin width, chest girth, and cannon bone girth) in the Saryarka sheep breed. Blood samples were collected from 60 animals, genomic DNA was extracted, and genotyping was performed using the OvineSNP50 Genotyping BeadChip. GWAS analysis identified significant SNP markers associated with each trait.The identified markers were annotated to the Ovis aries genome (Oar_v3.1) using the BioMart platform. As a result, six candidate genes IGFBP6, ST7, SCD5, DTNBP1, KYNU, and FTO were found to be associated with live weight and four morphometric traits. These genes are involved in growth regulation, lipid metabolism, tissue development, and immune responses, and are consistent with findings from similar studies in other sheep breeds.The results of this study provide molecular markers associated with meat productivity in the Saryarka sheep breed, establishing a scientific foundation for the development of marker-assisted selection. This opens the way for targeted and efficient genetic improvement in sheep breeding.
01 Introduction
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02 References
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