Study on Genome Copy Number Variation of Sheep in Northern China

To detect the association of the biological traits and genetic properties in sheep genome,array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) system was used to identify the CNVs in the sheep genome and the CNVs map was constructed in Mongolian sheep,Kazakh sheep and Tibetan sheep.The results showed that 28 CNV regions (CNVRs) were found,containing 11 gains,15 losses and 2 gain-losses.The HBB gene was amplified in Mongolian sheep and Tibetan sheep,which might be attributed to adaptability in low oxygen and high altitude environment.Real-time PCR was performed for CNVRs and CNV genes,83.3% of Real-time RCR results were consistent with the CGH.The study that performed the genome-wide detection of copy number variations of sheep in Northern China,would provid foundation for studying genetic variation in different sheep breeds.