家畜多脊椎性状研究进展

多脊椎性状是指动物脊椎数比正常个体增加的现象，是存在于家畜中的有益突变。胸腰椎数的增加可增大家畜的体长，改变相应胴体指标，从而提高其经济价值。多脊椎性状具有较高遗传力，这为多脊椎肉用家畜的选择和培育奠定了遗传基础，使多脊椎个体在家畜遗传改良中发挥优良的生产性能成为可能。因此，家畜多脊椎性状的研究，可为多脊椎肉用家畜新品种的培育奠定理论基础。目前，已在猪、羊和牛3种家畜上发现多脊椎现象。其中，猪多脊椎性状的研究已取得了较大的进展，而牛和羊多脊椎性状的研究结果则相对有限。作者就家畜中的脊椎数变异情况、多脊椎性状对家畜生产性能的影响及其候选基因/突变位点的研究3方面内容进行阐述，并简要分析了家畜多脊椎性状研究空白及可能的研究方向。

Research Progress on Multi-vertebral Trait in Livestock

Multi-vertebra trait means increase of the vertebral number in animal, which is positive for livestock. Increased thoracic-lumbar vertebral number will result in improvement of carcass traits, especially carcass length, as well as economic value. Meanwhile, relatively high heritability of multi-vertebra trait is evaluated, providing genetic basis for selecting and breeding of multi-vertebra livestock. As such, individuals with multi-vertebra trait will increase production of domestic animals ultimately. Thus, study on multi-vertebra trait provides theoretical basis for breeding of meat livestock with multi-vertebra. Hitherto, multi-vertebra trait has been found in swine, sheep and bovine. Much information has been revealed in studies on multi-vertebra trait in swine; While that is limited in sheep and bovine. This review summarized variations of vertebral number, effects of multi-vertebra trait on the production traits, and genes or mutations responsible for multi-vertebra trait of livestock animal. Further, the research gap and future direction were analyzed as well.