Identification of complete linkage disequilibrium in the DSG4 gene and its association with wool length and crimp in Chinese indigenous sheep

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The desmoglein 4 (DSG4) gene is a potential candidate in the search for genes that may affect wool traits, because of its function. This study aimed to screen for polymorphisms in partial exon 16 and 3ꞌUTR of the sheep desmoglein 4 DSG4 gene, and to test its possible association with wool length and crimp associated with fur. Overall, 326 sheep were scanned via single-strand conformational polymorphism assay, through three pairs of primers. The breeds included Tan, Han, and TanxHan from China, Polled Dorset from Australia, and Suffolk from Britain genotypes AA, BB, and AB for primer2 and genotypes DD, EE, and DE for primer3 were detected in native breeds. Six SNPs and 3-bp insertion/deletions were found in exon 16, of which 4 lead to amino acid substitutions. In addition, 1 SNP was found in 3ꞌUTR. The DSG4 genotype was found to be strongly associated with all wool traits that were considered in this study (P < 0.01). Sheep with the genotype MM had a higher least square mean compared to sheep with the genotype WW or WM with respect to birth scapular wool length (P < 0.01), crimp number of birth scapular wool crimp (P < 0.01), crimp number of weaning scapular wool crimp (P < 0.01), and crimp number of weaning rump wool crimp (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). In conclusion, our study is the first to demonstrate that the DSG4 gene may be a candidate, or major gene, which influences important wool traits.

High-density genotyping reveals signatures of selection related to acclimation and economically important traits in 15 local sheep breeds from Russia

“…The Altai Mountain breed, however, exhibits the wider selection signal covering both clusters. The DSG4 (desmoglein 4) is a known candidate for wool length and crimp in sheep [40], likely to be related to white and black coat colour in goats [41] and is a known cause of the recessive hairless phenotype in rats [42]. The DSG1 and DSG3 are associated with hair growth and follicle structure and the DSC2 with woolly/straight hair phenotype in sheep [43,44].…”

Polymorphisms of FST gene and their association with wool quality traits in Chinese Merino sheep

“…Two SNPs in keratin-associated protein 22.1 ( KAP 22 . 1 ) gene and six SNPs in desmoglein 4 ( DSG 4 ) gene were shown to influence wool crimp in Southdown × Merino cross lambs and Tan sheep, respectively [4, 5]. In addition, our previous study showed that nine SNPs of methionine synthase ( MTR ) gene were associated with average wool fiber diameter in Chinese Merino sheep [6].…”

Desmoglein 4 diversity and correlation analysis with coat color in goat

“…In addition, some reports showed that members of the DSG family were associated with skin disease (Amagai, 2010;Amagai and Stanley, 2012). Recent studies have revealed that the DSG4 genotype is strongly associated with wool traits in Chinese indigenous sheep (Zhang et al, 2011a;Ling et al, 2014). These studies strongly suggest that DSG4 is a candidate gene that may contain polymorphic variations affecting wool traits in sheep.…”