hrvatski

Signatures of positive selection in several populations representing Balkan sheep

Indigenous sheep breeds are spread all over the world and are well adapted to different environments. Balkan sheep breeds (populations) are considered as a world-wide distinctive group that has been adapted to their specific geographical and breeding environments. Recently, it has been proposed that Balkan sheep breeds were, together with Italian breeds, hub regions from which sheep dispersed over the rest of Europe. Balkan sheep breeds, at the genomewide level, have never been analysed for selection signals. We have sampled and genotyped 110 individuals belonging to five native Balkan sheep breeds (26 Dalmatian Pramenka ; 26 Dubrovnik Ruda Sheep ; 25 Istrian sheep, 25 Pag Island sheep and 8 North Macedonia Sheep) with Ovine Infinium® HD SNP BeadChip (606, 006 SNPs). After quality control, two different methods for detection of directional selection signals were applied (identification of extremely frequent SNPs in ROHs and Integrated Haplotype Score). Both, methods are based on the analysis of the genomic variation within one large-meta- population, here representing Balkan sheep breeds. We further analysed vicinity of the genome regions exhibiting strong selection signals and identifying plausible candidate genes responsible for the observed selection footprints. Our analysis revealed genome regions and plausible candidate genes that are responsible for the local adaptation of sheep in the Balkan.

selection signatures ; genomics ; sheep ; runs of homozygosity islands ; integrated haplotype score

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