The sheep genetic breedinginnovation team in Institute of Animal Sciences of CAAS has found a series ofkey genes associated with goat litter in the hypothalamus, pituitary andovarian tissue of sheep through the methods of constructing cDNA library andsequencing. It provides new idea of using molecular breeding method forimproving the litter size in goats. Related research results have beenpublished on Molecular Reproduction andDevelopment.

Chu Mingxing, the principalinvestigator of this team introduced that litter size is a key economicindicator to the development of the goat industry. This indicator is a complexprocess which is controlled by multiple genes and organs and the genetic basisof it was not completely clear. Jining gray goat can be regarded as a goodspecies in Chinese goat breeds with the highest number of lambs. It providesgood materials for litter size traits study.

The team has constructed the suppression subtractivehybridization library through using the sexual maturity and adult for a numberof lambs born in Jining grey goats as the experimental group and using thematching Liaoning cashmere goats which breed single lamp as control. Bysequencing and sequence analysis, they selected 1458 positive clones and foundthat the function of these gene is mainly related to cell process and signal,information storaging and processing and metabolizing. At the same time, they havefound a number of genes which affected embryo survival,follicular development and body health.

Thisstudy clarifies the molecular mechanism which goathypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis systems could control the litter. It laidthe theoretical foundation of genetic improvement and molecular in litter sizefor goats.

Time:2015.3.27          

Source: Xinhua Net