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Veterinary Sciences
Special Issues
Molecular Markers in Ruminant Reproduction
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Molecular Markers in Ruminant Reproduction

A special issue of Veterinary Sciences (ISSN 2306-7381). This special issue belongs to the section "Veterinary Reproduction and Obstetrics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2026 | Viewed by 656

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Bin Tong

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Regulation and Breeding of Grassland Livestock, School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010020, China
Interests: ruminant; reproduction; ovulation; molecular genetics; breeding
Prof. Dr. Guifang Cao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Development Engineering of Universities of Higher Learning in Inner Mongolia, College of Veterinary Medicine, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010011, China
Interests: livestocks; histoembryology; developmental biology; veterinary histology; reproductive diseases

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Improving the reproductive efficiency of ruminants remains challenging for the scientific community. Reproduction is a complex trait affected by many factors. In recent years, with the development of multi-omics technologies, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, it has become possible to discover many new molecular biomarkers related to the reproductive phenotypes of ruminants.

This Special Issue, titled "Molecular Markers in Ruminant Reproduction", will focus on various molecular markers (such as genes, non-coding RNAs, proteins, and metabolites) related to ovarian development, follicular development, ovulation mechanisms, and litter size in ruminants.

In this context, one of the purposes of this Special Issue is to collect some of the latest functional research regarding molecular markers in the follicular development and ovulation-regulation mechanisms in ruminants, as well as to highlight the identification of key molecular markers involved in modulating main reproductive events of ruminants of economic interest.

We hope that this Special Issue will further stimulate collaboration between scientists engaged in all aspects of reproductive phenotypes in livestock.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Bin Tong
Prof. Dr. Guifang Cao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Veterinary Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 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

  • ruminants
  • molecular markers
  • follicular development
  • ovulation
  • omics technologies

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 1265 KB  
Article
Genomic Variants, Transcriptomic Profile, Ultrasonographic Findings, and Antioxidant and Immunological Biomarkers Linked to Pregnancy Toxemia Susceptibility in Goats
by Ahmed El-Sayed, Mohamed Marzok, Huda A. Alqahtani, Amin Tahoun, Adel I. Almubarak, Rasha Yassin Elkhidr, Zakriya Al Mohamed, Elshymaa A. Abdelnaby, Hussein Babiker, Hanan M. Alharbi, Khairiah M. Alwutayd and Ahmed Ateya
Vet. Sci. 2025, 12(9), 891; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci12090891 - 15 Sep 2025
Abstract
Pregnancy toxemia (PT) represents a significant metabolic disorder affecting small ruminants that causes substantial economic losses due to reduced productivity, reproductive failure, and high mortality. This study investigated the clinical, ultrasonographic, hematobiochemical, oxidative stress, and immunological profiles, as well as the gene expression [...] Read more.
Pregnancy toxemia (PT) represents a significant metabolic disorder affecting small ruminants that causes substantial economic losses due to reduced productivity, reproductive failure, and high mortality. This study investigated the clinical, ultrasonographic, hematobiochemical, oxidative stress, and immunological profiles, as well as the gene expression and nucleotide sequence variations, associated with PT susceptibility in Shami goats. Fifty late-pregnant does (33 healthy and 17 PT-affected) were examined. Clinical evaluation, complete blood count, biochemical analysis, cytokine profiling, antioxidant assays, hepatic ultrasonography, quantitative real-time PCR of immune (IL6, IL8), antioxidant (SOD3, HMOX1), and lipogenic (ACACA, FASN) genes, and PCR-DNA sequencing were performed. PT does exhibit significant hypoglycemia, hyperketonemia, elevated liver and kidney function biomarkers, dyslipidemia, oxidative stress (↑ MDA, ↓ GSH, GPx, SOD, CAT), increased pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL1α, IL1β, IL6, TNFα), and reduced IL10. Gene expression analysis revealed upregulation of IL6 and IL8 and downregulation of SOD3, HMOX1, ACACA, and FASN in PT does. Sequencing identified multiple synonymous and non-synonymous SNPs significantly associated with PT. Ultrasonography indicated hepatic fatty infiltration. Discriminant analysis using SNPs achieved 100% classification accuracy between healthy and PT does. These findings suggested that combined clinical, biochemical, oxidative, immunological, and genetic markers could enhance early PT diagnosis and may provide a basis for future studies aimed at selective breeding for improved resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Markers in Ruminant Reproduction)
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13 pages, 3012 KB  
Article
Effects of Novel Mutations in the LEPR Gene on Litter Size in Gobi Short Tail Sheep and Sonid Sheep
by Sen Yang, Lin An, Pengda Dong, Ming Zhang, Guifang Cao, Taogetao Baoying, Lai Da, Changqing Li and Bin Tong
Vet. Sci. 2025, 12(9), 868; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci12090868 - 6 Sep 2025
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Abstract
Increasing the litter size in sheep is a primary objective in breeding programs, driving sustained interest in identifying candidate functional genes and molecular markers associated with fecundity. The known FecD mutation in the LEPR gene has been shown to regulate reproductive traits by [...] Read more.
Increasing the litter size in sheep is a primary objective in breeding programs, driving sustained interest in identifying candidate functional genes and molecular markers associated with fecundity. The known FecD mutation in the LEPR gene has been shown to regulate reproductive traits by influencing the ovulation rate of Davisdale sheep. However, the relationship between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the LEPR and litter size remains unknown in Gobi short tail sheep and Sonid sheep. In this research, we found one novel variant and thirteen known variants through direct sequencing in Sonid sheep and Gobi short tail sheep and performed an association study in a large-scale population. The association analysis identified two SNPs (c.240C>T (rs159694506) and c.279C>T (rs159694508)) with significant litter size associations in Gobi short tail sheep (p < 0.01 ). In Sonid sheep, the c.240C>T (rs159694506), c.279C>T (rs159694508), g.41249772C>T (rs412130067), g.41249873A>C (rs425490800), g.41250357T>C (rs424307284), and g.41250358T>C (rs404651806) SNPs were significantly associated with litter size (p < 0.05 ). In addition, in GB sheep, the frequency of the litter-size-associated C allele at the c.240C>T (rs159694506) and c.279C>T (rs159694508) variants were significantly lower than that in Sonid sheep (SN), Mongolia sheep (MG), Ujimqin sheep (UM), Tan sheep (Tan), Hu sheep (Hu), and Small-tailed Han sheep (STH) populations. In SN sheep, the frequency of the litter-size-associated C allele at the c.240C>T (rs159694506) and c.279C>T (rs159694508) variant was significantly lower than that in the DPU. These findings provided valuable molecular markers pertinent to the fecundity of sheep, offering scientific evidence for the genetic improvement of these breeds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Markers in Ruminant Reproduction)
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