Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T07:53:25.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Detection of a major gene for litter size in Thoka Cheviot sheep using Bayesian segregation analyses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

G. A. Walling ,
S. C. Bishop ,
R. Pong-Wong ,
G. Gittus ,
A.J. F. Russel  and
S. M. Rhind
G. A. Walling*
Affiliation:
Roslin Institute (Edinburgh), Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PS, UK
S. C. Bishop
Affiliation:
Roslin Institute (Edinburgh), Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PS, UK
R. Pong-Wong
Affiliation:
Roslin Institute (Edinburgh), Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PS, UK
G. Gittus
Affiliation:
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
A.J. F. Russel
Affiliation:
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
S. M. Rhind
Affiliation:
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
*
†E-mail:[email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Segregation analyses were applied to data from an experimental sheep flock to investigate the presence of a major gene affecting litter size. The data set contained 14 years of litter size data, with up to five parities per ewe, from Cheviot sheep carrying the putative Thoka fecundity gene from Icelandic sheep. Segregation analyses were performed using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method implemented using Gibbs sampling. Uniform priors were initially used for estimating variance components, the gene effect and fixed effects in the data. Genotypes in the base generation were assumed known based on the use of the imported Icelandic donor semen from the founder rams. The use of alternative priors (naïve and inverse-gamma distributions) for the variance components did not significantly affect the results, demonstrating the data to be sufficiently powerful for the analyses used. Segregation analyses detected a major gene for litter size in the Thoka Cheviot flock increasing litter size by 0·70 lambs per ewe lambing for a single copy of the gene. When the analysis was repeated without fixing the genotypes in the base population, the analyses predicted a different genotype than that previously used for one of the founder rams and suggested the major gene to be segregating in the Cheviot founder animals prior to the introduction of the Thoka rams. A liability threshold analysis was also applied to the data. As identified in other studies, the threshold analysis overestimated the heritability, but the estimated major gene effect was not significantly different from other analyses. The results confirm the segregation of the Thoka gene in a Cheviot flock and highlight the statistical method as a useful tool for identifying carrier animals to be used for future matings.

Keywords

fecundityIcelandic sheepMarkov processesMonte Carlo methodquantitative traits.
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , December 2002 , pp. 339 - 347
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adalsteinsson, S., Jonmundsson, J. V. and Eythorsdottir, E. 1989. The high fecundity Thoka gene in Icelandic sheep. Proceedings of the 40th annual meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Dublin, Ireland.Google Scholar
Bodin, L., Elsen, J. M., Poivey, J. P., SanCristobal-Gaudy, M., Belloc, J. P. and Eychenne, F. 1998. Hyper-prolificacy in the French Lacaune sheep breed. Proceedings of the sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Armidale, vol. 27, pp. 11–14.Google Scholar
Bradford, G. E., Quirke, J. F., Sitorus, P., Inounu, I., Tiesnamurti, B., Bell, F. L., Fletcher, I. C. and Torell, D. T. 1986. Reproduction in Javanese sheep: evidence for a gene with large effect on ovulation rate and litter size. Journal of Animal Science 63: 418–431.Google Scholar
Davis, G. H., Dodds, K. G., Wheeler, R. and Jay, N. P. 2001. Evidence that an imprinted gene on the X chromosome increases ovulation rate in sheep. Biology of Reproduction 64: 216–221.Google Scholar
Davis, G. H., Morris, C. A. and Dodds, K. G. 1998. Genetic studies of prolificacy in New Zealand sheep. Animal Science 67: 289–297.Google Scholar
Eythorsdottir, E., Adalsteinsson, S., Jonmundsson, J. V. and Hanrahan, J. P. 1991. Research work on the Icelandic Thoka gene. In Major genes for reproduction in sheep (ed. J. M. Elsen, , L., Bodin and Thimonier, J.), pp. 75–84. INRA, Paris.Google Scholar
Firat, M. Z. 1995. Bayesian methods in selection of farm animals for breeding. Ph. D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Galloway, S. M., McNatty, K. P., Cambridge, L. M., Laitinen, M. P. E., Juengel, J. L., Jokiranta, T. S., McLaren, R. J., Luiro, K., Dodds, K. G., Montgomery, G. W., Beattie, A. E., Davis, G. H. and Ritvos, O. 2000. Mutations in an oocyte-derived growth factor gene (BMP15) cause increased ovulation rate and infertility in a dosage-sensitive manner. Nature Genetics 25: 279–283.Google Scholar
Geyer, C. J. 1992. Practical Markov chain Monte Carlo. Statistical Science 7: 473–511.Google Scholar
Glazko, V. I., Owen, J. B., Ap Dewi, I. and Axford, R. F. E. 1997. An association of haemoglobin protein (HBB) with ovulation rate in Cambridge sheep. Animal Science 64: 279–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, S. W. and Thompson, A. E. 1992. Monte Carlo estimation of variance component models for large complex pedigrees. Journal of Mathematics Applied to Medical Biology 8: 171–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janss, L. L. G., Thompson, R. and Arendonk, J. A. M. van. 1995. Application of Gibbs sampling for inference in a mixed major gene-polygenic inheritance model in animal populations. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 91: 1137–1147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jonmundsson, J. V. and Adalsteinsson, S. 1985. Single genes for fecundity in Icelandic sheep. In Genetics of reproduction in sheep (ed. Land, R. B. and Robinson, D. W.), pp. 159–168. Butterworths, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, J. W. B., Russel, A. J. F., Wolf, B. T. and Beck, N. F. G. 1990. Crossing experiments with the Thoka gene from Icelandic sheep. Proceedings of the fourth world congress on genetics applied to animal production, Edinburgh, vol. 15, pp. 123–126.Google Scholar
Knott, S. A., Haley, C. S. and Thompson, R. 1992. Methods for segregation analysis for animal breeding data: a comparison of power. Heredity 68: 299–311.Google Scholar
Moreno, C., Sorensen, D., Garcia-Cortes, L.A, Varona, L. and Altarriba, J. 1997. On biased inferences about variance components in the binary threshold model. Genetics, Selection, Evolution 29: 145–160.Google Scholar
Morton, N. E. and MacLean, C. J. 1974. Analysis of family resemblance. III. Complex segregation of quantitative traits. American Journal of Human Genetics 26: 489–503.Google Scholar
Pong-Wong, R. and Woolliams, J. A. 1996. Estimating major gene effects with partial information using Gibbs sampling. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 93: 1090–1097.Google Scholar
Reynaud, K., Hanrahan, J. P., Donovan, A. and Driancourt, M. A. 1999. Markers of follicle function in Bleclare-cross ewes differing widely in ovulation rate. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 116: 51–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rhind, S. M., Gittus, G., Potts, J. M. and Bishop, S. C. 2000. Reproductive performance of the Thoka Cheviot sheep. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science, 2000, p. 44.Google Scholar
Russel, A. J. F., Alexieva, S. A. and Elston, D. A. 1997. The effect of the introduction of the Thoka gene for fecundity on lamb production from Cheviot ewes. Animal Science 64: 503–507.Google Scholar
Sorensen, D. A., Andersen, S., Gianola, D. and Korsgaard, I. 1995. Bayesian inferences in threshold model using Gibbs sampling. Genetics, Selection, Evolution 27: 229–249.Google Scholar
Van Tassell, C. P. and Van Vleck, L. D. 1995. A manual for use of MTGSAM. A set of fortran programs to apply Gibbs sampling to animal models for variance component estimation. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.Google Scholar
Wang, C. S., Rutledge, J. J. and Gianola, D. 1993. Marginal inferences about variance components in a mixed linear model using Gibbs sampling. Genetics, Selection, Evolution 25: 41–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, C. S., Rutledge, J. J. and Gianola, D. 1994. Bayesian analysis of mixed linear models via Gibbs sampling with an application to litter size in Iberian pigs. Genetics, Selection, Evolution 26: 91–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, T., Wu, X. -Y., Juengal, J. L., Ross, I. K., Lumsden, J. M., Lord, E. A., Dodds, K. G., Walling, G. A., McEwan, J. C., O’Connell, A. R., McNatty, K. P. and Montgomery, G. W. 2001. Highly prolific Booroola sheep have a mutation in the intracellular kinase domain of bone morphogenetic protein 1B receptor (ALK-6) that is expressed in both oocytes and granulosa cells. Biology of Reproduction 64: 1225–1235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar