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Animals
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Genetics and Genomics of Small Ruminants Prolificacy
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Genetics and Genomics of Small Ruminants Prolificacy

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 6273

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Gabriel Anaya Calvo-Rubio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
MERAGEM Group, Department of Genetics, University of Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Interests: genomics; ruminant; improvement; prolificacy; production; wool; NGS; SNPs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Prolificacy in ruminants is an important trait in both meat and wool production. In meat production systems, multiple gestations are required, although they may result in lower offspring weight gain and/or an increase in mortality. On the other hand, an excess of prolificacy limits wool production due to the high expenditure of maternal resources on breeding rather than on fiber generation. Prolificacy depends on several environmental factors such as age, physiological status, or diet, among others; however, genetics have a fundamental impact. Knowledge of the genetic predisposition of herds regarding the size of the offspring could help in achieving the production objective: the management and feeding of the animals. Genetic and genomic methodologies allow the detection of new variants related to prolificacy that could be used as a criterion for selection in small ruminants.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present original papers and/or reviews on the genetics and genomics of small ruminant prolificacy focused on the search for genes that could be used as selection tools or focused on the improvement of prolificacy using classical selection with the use of new genetic evaluation methodologies. Other topics regarding the economic, health or production impacts of prolificacy will also be considered.

Dr. Gabriel Anaya Calvo-Rubio
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • prolificacy
  • ruminants
  • gene
  • genomic
  • selection
  • improvement

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 279 KiB  
Article
Genetic Analysis of Litter Size Across Parities in Prolific and Conventional Populations of Tunisian Barbarine Sheep Using a Random Regression Model
by Chiraz Ziadi, Juan Manuel Serradilla, Sonia Bedhiaf-Romdhani and Antonio Molina
Animals 2025, 15(5), 638; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15050638 - 22 Feb 2025
Viewed by 394
Abstract
Litter size records from two lines of Tunisian Barbarine sheep were analysed across parities using an RRM. A total of 2751 and 2562 litter records from the first to the sixth parity from the prolific and the conventional lines, respectively, were included in [...] Read more.
Litter size records from two lines of Tunisian Barbarine sheep were analysed across parities using an RRM. A total of 2751 and 2562 litter records from the first to the sixth parity from the prolific and the conventional lines, respectively, were included in the analysis. The total number of animals in the pedigree was 1277 for the prolific line and 1102 for the conventional line. The estimation of genetic parameters was based on Bayesian inference under categorical distribution. Fixed effects included the year and month of lambing and a fixed quadratic regression coefficient for the lambing number with Legendre polynomials. The random additive and permanent environmental effects were modelled by second-order Legendre polynomials. Heritability ranged from 0.04 to 0.18 for the prolific line and from 0.17 to 0.39 for the conventional line. Genetic correlations within trait through parities showed a wide range of values, from 0.25 to 0.96 for the prolific line and from zero to 0.93 for the conventional line. Due to the changes in the variances and the genetic correlations different from unity across parities, the use of an RRM is recommended to analyse litter size in the Barbarine sheep. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetics and Genomics of Small Ruminants Prolificacy)
17 pages, 289 KiB  
Article
Inbreeding Depression and Purging in Fertility and Longevity Traits in Sheep Breeds from Germany
by Cathrin Justinski, Jens Wilkens and Ottmar Distl
Animals 2024, 14(22), 3214; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14223214 - 8 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1165
Abstract
In the present study, we analysed fertility and longevity traits of 22 sheep breeds from Germany with a suitable quantity of data in the national database OviCap. The data comprised merino, meat, country and milk sheep breeds with 62,198 ewes and about 173,000 [...] Read more.
In the present study, we analysed fertility and longevity traits of 22 sheep breeds from Germany with a suitable quantity of data in the national database OviCap. The data comprised merino, meat, country and milk sheep breeds with 62,198 ewes and about 173,000 lambing records, until the fifth lambing. Across-breed means of heritabilities reached estimates of 0.13, 0.17 and 0.18 for number of lambings, average number of lambs born per lambing and number of lambs per lifetime, respectively. For age at first lambing, length of lifetime and productive life, mean heritabilities over breeds were 0.34, 0.17 and 0.32, respectively. The across-breed means of the individual rate of inbreeding were significantly negative for the average number of lambs born per lambing and number of lambs born per lifetime, and for number of lambings it was close to the significance threshold. We found declining slopes for inbreeding depression for the average number of lambs born per lambing and number of lambs born per lifetime in 16 breeds, and significantly negative slopes in five and seven breeds. For lifetime and productive life, 9/22 and 8/22 breeds showed significant inbreeding depression, while for age at first lambing, only 1/22 breeds showed significant inbreeding depression. A significant reduction in inbreeding depression due to purging effects was found for eight breeds. Fitness traits may be subject to forced directional selection. Therefore, sheep breeding programmes should give special consideration to fertility and longevity traits. Fitness related traits seem to be essential in conservation of genetic diversity within sheep breeds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetics and Genomics of Small Ruminants Prolificacy)
11 pages, 1813 KiB  
Article
Screening of Litter-Size-Associated SNPs in NOX4, PDE11A and GHR Genes of Sheep
by Jiajun Li, Yiming Gong, Xiangyu Wang, Xiaoyun He, Xiaolong He, Mingxing Chu and Ran Di
Animals 2024, 14(5), 767; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14050767 - 29 Feb 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1447
Abstract
In previous studies, NOX4, PDE11A and GHR genes have been screened as important candidate genes for litter size in sheep by using the GWAS method; however, neither their effects on litter size nor the loci associated with litter size have been identified. [...] Read more.
In previous studies, NOX4, PDE11A and GHR genes have been screened as important candidate genes for litter size in sheep by using the GWAS method; however, neither their effects on litter size nor the loci associated with litter size have been identified. In this study, three candidate loci (c.1057-4C > T in NOX4, c.1983C > T in PDE11A and c.1618C > T in GHR) were first screened based on our previous resequencing data of 10 sheep breeds. After the three loci were genotyped using Sequenom MassARRAY technology, we carried out population genetics analysis on the three loci and performed association analysis between the polymorphism of the three loci and the litter size of sheep. The results of population genetics analysis suggested that c.1057-4C > T in NOX4 and c.1983C > T in PDE11A may be subject to natural or artificial selection. The results of association analysis indicated that litter size was significantly associated with c.1057-4C > T in NOX4 and c.1983C > T in PDE11A (p < 0.05) in Small Tail Han sheep, and there was no significant interaction effect between the two loci on the litter size. In summary, c.1057-4C > T in NOX4 and c.1983 C > T in PDE11A can be considered candidate molecular markers for improving litter size in sheep. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetics and Genomics of Small Ruminants Prolificacy)
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13 pages, 1236 KiB  
Article
Association Analyses between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in ZFAT, FBN1, FAM184B Genes and Litter Size of Xinggao Mutton Sheep
by Yiming Gong, Qiuju Chen, Xiaolong He, Xiangyu Wang, Xiaoyun He, Yunfei Wang, Zhangyuan Pan, Mingxing Chu and Ran Di
Animals 2023, 13(23), 3639; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13233639 - 24 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1385
Abstract
Previous studies have screened key candidate genes for litter size in sheep, including fibrillin-1 (FBN1), family with sequence similarity 184 member B (FAM184B) and zinc finger and AT-hook domain containing (ZFAT). Therefore, it is necessary to verify [...] Read more.
Previous studies have screened key candidate genes for litter size in sheep, including fibrillin-1 (FBN1), family with sequence similarity 184 member B (FAM184B) and zinc finger and AT-hook domain containing (ZFAT). Therefore, it is necessary to verify these genes in the Xinggao mutton sheep population and determine the associated loci for litter size. In this study, three loci (FBN1 g.160338382 T > C, FAM184B g.398531673 C > T and ZFAT g.20150315 C > T) were firstly screened based on the population differentiation coefficient between the polytocous and monotocous sheep groups. Then, population genetic analysis and association analysis were performed on these loci. The results revealed that the g.160338382 T > C in FBN1 was significantly associated with the litter size of sheep. Moreover, there was no significant interaction effect between the g.160338382 T > C locus and FecB on litter size. Notably, g.160338382 T > C is adjacent to the anterior border of exon 58 and belongs to a splice polypyrimidine tract variant, which may lead to alternative splicing and ultimately cause changes in the structure and function of the protein. In summary, our results provided a potentially effective genetic marker for improving the litter size of sheep. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetics and Genomics of Small Ruminants Prolificacy)
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Review

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20 pages, 3654 KiB  
Review
Potential Candidate Genes Associated with Litter Size in Goats: A Review
by Wenting Chen, Ying Han, Yinghui Chen, Xiaotong Liu, Huili Liang, Changfa Wang and Muhammad Zahoor Khan
Animals 2025, 15(1), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15010082 - 2 Jan 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1057
Abstract
This review examines genetic markers associated with litter size in goats, a key reproductive trait impacting productivity in small ruminant farming. Goats play a vital socioeconomic role in both low- and high-income regions; however, their productivity remains limited due to low reproductive efficiency. [...] Read more.
This review examines genetic markers associated with litter size in goats, a key reproductive trait impacting productivity in small ruminant farming. Goats play a vital socioeconomic role in both low- and high-income regions; however, their productivity remains limited due to low reproductive efficiency. Litter size, influenced by multiple genes and environmental factors, directly affects farm profitability and sustainability by increasing the output per breeding cycle. Recent advancements in genetic research have identified key genes and pathways associated with reproductive traits, including gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), inhibin (INHAA), Kit ligand (KITLG), protein phosphatase 3 catalytic subunit alpha (PPP3CA), prolactin receptor (PRLR), POU domain class 1 transcription factor 1 (POU1F1), anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP), growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9), and KISS1 and suppressor of mothers against decapentaplegic (SMAD) family genes, among others. These genes regulate crucial physiological processes such as folliculogenesis, hormone synthesis, and ovulation. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and transcriptomic analyses have pinpointed specific genes linked to increased litter size, highlighting their potential in selective breeding programs. By incorporating genomic data, breeding strategies can achieve higher selection accuracy, accelerate genetic gains, and improve reproductive efficiency. This review emphasizes the importance of genetic markers in optimizing litter size and promoting sustainable productivity in goat farming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetics and Genomics of Small Ruminants Prolificacy)
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