Mutations in the Genes for Oocyte-Derived Growth Factors GDF9 and BMP15 Are Associated with Both Increased Ovulation Rate and Sterility in Cambridge and Belclare Sheep (Ovis aries)1
Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority · Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger · +7 more institutions
Abstract
Belclare and Cambridge are prolific sheep breeds, the origins of which involved selecting ewes with exceptionally high litter size records from commercial flocks. The variation in ovulation rate in both breeds is consistent with segregation of a gene (or genes) with a large effect on this trait. Sterile ewes, due to a failure of normal ovarian follicle development, occur in both breeds. New naturally occurring mutations in genes for the oocyte-derived growth factors growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) and bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) are described. These mutations are associated with increased ovulation rate in heterozygous carriers and sterility in homozygous carriers in both breeds. This is the…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 35.81
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 44
Authors
7- JPJ. P. HanrahanCorresponding
Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority
- SMScott M. Gregan
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger, Centre National de Recherche Agronomique, University of Otago, AgResearch
- PMPhilippe Mulsant
Laboratoire de Génétique Cellulaire, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Microbiology
- MPMichael P. Mullen
Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway, AgResearch
- GHG. H. Davis
Statistics New Zealand, AgResearch
Topics & keywords
- Bone morphogenetic protein 15
- Biology
- Ovulation
- Growth differentiation factor-9
- Sterility
- Folliculogenesis
- Genetics
- Infertility