Investigation of LHX3 gene polymorphism in awassi and cukurova meat sheep

This study aimed to examine the impact of LHX3 gene polymorphisms on growth characteristics, including withers height (cm), rump height (cm), chest depth (cm), body length (cm), chest width (cm), rump width (cm), chest circumference (cm), and live weight (kg) in Awassi and Çukurova Meat Sheep (ÇET) breeds. Blood samples were obtained from 95 animals (43 Awassi and 52 ÇET) at the Small Ruminant Breeding Farm of Çukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, and genomic DNA was extracted from these samples. The P1 region of the LHX3 gene locus (LHX3-P1) was analysed utilising the PCR technique with a suitable primer set. In the acquired amplicons, alleles D (251 bp) and I (280 bp) were discovered. Consequently, allele frequencies (I: insertion, D: deletion) and genotype frequencies (II: insertion/insertion, DD: deletion/deletion, ID: insertion/deletion) were computed. In the ÇET breed, the allele frequencies for I and D were 0.60 and 0.40, respectively, whereas the genotype frequencies for II, DD, and ID were 0.50, 0.15, and 0.35, respectively. In the Awassi breed, the allele frequencies for I and D were 0.23 and 0.77, respectively, whereas the genotype frequencies for II and DD were 0.47 and 0.53, respectively. Association analyses conducted on both sheep breeds demonstrated statistically significant correlations between LHX3-P1 gene polymorphism and live weight and chest depth in ÇET sheep, as well as between LHX3-P1 gene polymorphism and body length and rump breadth in Awassi sheep. Keywords: Sheep, Awassi, ÇET, LHX3 gene, growth traits