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Identification of sequence variation in the oocyte-derived bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) gene (BMP15) associated with litter size in New Zealand sheep (Ovis aries) breeds

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Abstract

Advances in the study of reproductive traits indicate that functional variation in fertility genes may be useful for improving sheep fertility. The aim of this study was to search for variation in the bone morphogenetic protein 15 gene (BMP15) and ascertain any association with litter size in purebred Finnish Landrace sheep (n = 148), Finnish Landrace × Texel-cross sheep (n = 45), and composite sheep (of varying breed background; n = 58) from New Zealand (NZ). A 482 bp and 312 bp fragment of exon 1 and 2, respectively, of BMP15 were analysed using polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP). The additive and dominance effect of BMP15 variation on litter size were estimated using animal and sire models. Two variants (A and B) were detected in exon 1; no sequence variation was detected in exon 2. Variant A had the nucleotide sequence CTT between positions c.31 and c.33, while variant B had a deletion (c.31_33del). The observed frequency for variant A in the Finnish Landrace sheep, Finnish Landrace × Texel-cross sheep and the composite sheep, was 0.77, 0.92, and 0.68, respectively while the frequency of variant B (c.31_33del) was 0.23, 0.08, and 0.32, respectively. An association between litter size and c.31_33del (P < 0.001) was observed in composite sheep. Analysis of more sheep will be required to confirm these results. Litter size did not differ significantly between sheep breeds regardless of the presence/absence of c.31_33del. Results suggested that c.31_33del might be a genetic marker for improving fecundity in some NZ sheep.

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Acknowledgements

The Gene-Marker Laboratory of the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Lincoln University, NZ funded this research, and we thank Daniel Wheeler for providing data, blood samples, and pedigree data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gene-Marker Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln, 7647, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Hamed Amirpour Najafabadi, Ghassan Ghaith Mahmoud, Ishaku Lemu Haruna, Huitong Zhou & Jon G. H. Hickford

  2. Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, 3083, Australia

    Majid Khansefid

Authors
  1. Hamed Amirpour Najafabadi
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  2. Majid Khansefid
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  3. Ghassan Ghaith Mahmoud
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  4. Ishaku Lemu Haruna
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  6. Jon G. H. Hickford
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Contributions

HAN designed the research, performed experiments, data analysis and wrote the paper. GGM and ILH assisted in data collection, performing experiments. MK assisted in data analysis and writing the paper. HZ and JGHH both designed and supervised the research, interpreted data and assisted in writing the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jon G. H. Hickford.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interests, but the research data was used for the PhD of the lead author Dr Hamed Amirpour Najafabadi (https://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10182/12184/Najafabadi_PhD.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y).

Ethical approval

The blood for DNA analysis was collected by the owner of the sheep. The research was carried out in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act 1999 (NZ Government) and the collection of sheep blood drops by nicking sheep ears is covered by Section 7.5 Animal Identification of the Animal Welfare (Sheep and Beef Cattle) Code of Welfare 2010, which is a code of welfare issued under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 (NZ Government).

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Najafabadi, H.A., Khansefid, M., Mahmoud, G.G. et al. Identification of sequence variation in the oocyte-derived bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) gene (BMP15) associated with litter size in New Zealand sheep (Ovis aries) breeds. Mol Biol Rep 48, 6335–6342 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06627-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06627-z

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