Genomic Analysis of Sarda Sheep Raised at Diverse Temperatures Highlights Several Genes Involved in Adaptations to the Environment and Heat Stress Response

first_pagesettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessFeature PaperArticle Genomic Analysis of Sarda Sheep Raised at Diverse Temperatures Highlights Several Genes Involved in Adaptations to the Environment and Heat Stress Response by Giustino Gaspa 1,*ORCID,Alberto Cesarani 2,3ORCID,Alfredo Pauciullo 1ORCID,Ilaria Peana 4ORCID andNicolò P. P. Macciotta 2ORCID 1 Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Science, University of Torino, 10124 Torino, Italy 2 Department of Agriculture, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy 3 Department of Animal and Dairy Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA 4 Servizio Agrometeorologico Regionale per la Sardegna (ARPAS), 07100 Sassari, Italy * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Animals 2024, 14(24), 3585; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14243585 Submission received: 4 November 2024 / Revised: 4 December 2024 / Accepted: 6 December 2024 / Published: 12 December 2024 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Application and Development of New Technologies in Breeding Healthy and Animals Resilience: Precision Livestock Farming, Genomics and Their Interaction Can Contribute to Sustainable Management of the Livestock Sector) Downloadkeyboard_arrow_down Browse Figures Versions Notes Simple Summary In extensive breeding systems, environmental conditions strongly influence animal behavior and production. During the process of evolution, animals tended to adapt their morphology and physiology to environmental conditions, leaving genomic imprints. This adaptation can be traced in the animals’ genomes, relating environmental features to genome-wide differentiation metrics. In this study, using Sarda sheep living at different temperatures as a case study, we compared their genomes to highlight traces of thermal tolerance and adaptation. Abstract Livestock expresses complex traits influenced by several factors. The response of animals to variations in climatic factors, such as increases in temperature, may induce heat stress conditions. In this study, animals living at different temperatures were compared using the genome-wide Wright fixation index (FST). A total of 825 genotypes of Sarda breed ewes were divided into two groups based on the flocks’ average temperature over a 20-year period to compute the FST: 395 and 430 sheep were represented in colder and hotter groups, respectively. After LOWESS regression and CONTROL CHART application, 623 significant markers and 97 selection signatures were found. A total of 280 positional candidate genes were retrieved from a public database. Among these genomic regions, we found 51 annotated genes previously associated with heat stress/tolerance in ruminants (FCGR1A, MDH1, UGP2, MYO1G, and HSPB3), as well as immune response and cellular mechanisms related to how animals cope with thermal stress (RIPK1, SERPINB1, SERPINB9, and PELI1). Moreover, other genes were associated with milk fat (SCD, HERC3, SCFD2, and CHUK), body weight, body fat, and intramuscular fat composition (AGPAT2, ABCD2, MFAP32, YTHDC1, SIRT3, SCD, and RNF121), which might suggest the influence of environmental conditions on the genome of Sarda sheep.