Association of GDF9/G1, CAST, KRT1.2, KAP1.3 gene polymorphism with economically important traits of the Transbaikalia sheep breeds

Traditional methods of sheep selection using different types of genetic markers make it possible to more accurately identify the genotypes of animals that have a high potential for the development of phenotypic traits. Their implementation will increase the progress of transformation of sheep herds and breeds and will allow the desired results to be achieved more quickly. The literature describes quite well the polymorphism of the GDF9/G1, CAST, KRT1.2, KAP1.3 genes in different breeds of sheep, but there is extremely insufficient information on their relationship with economically valuable traits and wool quality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations of the genotypes with the live weight of sheep, wool clip, and the quality of wool fibers. The object of the study is fine-wool sheep of the Khangil type of the Zabaikalskaya breed and half-coarse-wooled sheep of the Zugalai type of the Aginskaya breed of the Transbaikal region. PCR-RFLP analysis was carried out according to the described and tested methods. The quality of wool was determined using an OFDA 2000 optical analyzer. It was found that in the rams of the Zabaikalskaya breed with the homozygous CASTMM genotype, the live weight was 20.2 kg higher compared with heterozygotes of this gene. Rams of this breed with the KRT1.2MM genotype have a higher wool clip compared to KRT1.2MN by 1.2 kg. Rams of the Aginskaya breed with the CASTMN and KAP1.3YY genotypes had a longer spine by 2.7 cm and 1.8 cm than the animals with the CASTMM and KAP1.3XY genotypes, respectively. In ewes of this breed, on the contrary, animals with the CASTMM genotype had a longer spine by 2.7 cm, compared to the CASTMN genotype. Zabaikalskaya breed ewes with homozygous genotypes CASTMM and KRT1.2MM are distinguished by a greater fiber inclination angle (crimp) of 9.9 and 12.50 on 1 mm compared to heterozygous genotypes of these genes. Research to identify the associative relationship between genotypes and phenotypic traits of sheep should be continued by increasing the sample size. 

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