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Introduction: The development of reproducible tools for the rapid genotyping of thousands of genetic markers (SNPs) has promoted cross border collaboration in the study of sheep genetic diversity on a global scale., Methods: In this study, we collected a comprehensive dataset of 239 African and Eurasian sheep breeds genotyped at 37,638 filtered SNP markers, with the aim of understanding the genetic structure of 22 North African (NA) sheep breeds within a global context., Results and Discussion: We revealed asubstantial enrichment of the gene pool between the north and south shores of the Mediterranean Sea, which corroborates the importance of the maritime route in the history of livestock. The genetic structure of North African breeds mirrors the differential composition of genetic backgrounds following the breed history. Indeed, Maghrebin sheep stocks constitute a geographically and historically coherent unit with any breed-level genetic distinctness among them due to considerable gene flow. We detected a broad east-west pattern describing the most important trend in NA fat-tailed populations, exhibited by the genetic closeness of Egyptian and Libyan fat-tailed sheep to Middle Eastern breeds rather than Maghrebin ones. A Bayesian F ST scan analysis revealed a set of genes with potentially key adaptive roles in lipid metabolism ( BMP2, PDGFD VEGFA, TBX15, and WARS2 ), coat pigmentation ( SOX10, PICK1, PDGFRA, MC1R, and MTIF ) and horn morphology RXFP2 ) in Tunisian sheep. The local ancestry method detected a Merino signature in Tunisian Noire de Thibar sheep near the SULF1 gene introgressed by Merino's European breeds. This study will contribute to the general picture of worldwide sheep genetic diversity., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Baazaoui, Bedhiaf-Romdhani, Mastrangelo, Lenstra, Da Silva, Benjelloun and Ciani.)

In developing countries, the use of simple and cost-efficient molecular technology is crucial for genetic characterization of local animal resources and better development of conservation strategies. The genotyping by sequencing (GBS) technique, also called restriction enzyme- reduced representational sequencing, is an efficient, cost-effective method for simultaneous discovery and genotyping of many markers. In the present study, we applied a two-enzyme GBS protocol (PstI/MspI) to discover and genotype SNP markers among 197 Tunisian sheep samples. A total of 100 333 bi-allelic SNPs were discovered and genotyped with an SNP call rate of 0.69 and mean sample depth 3.33. The genomic relatedness between 183 samples grouped the samples perfectly to their populations and pointed out a high genetic relatedness of inbred subpopulation reflecting the current adopted reproductive strategies. The genome-wide association study contrasting fat vs. thin-tailed breeds detected 41 significant variants including a peak positioned on OAR20. We identified FOXC1, GMDS, VEGFA, OXCT1, VRTN and BMP2 as the most promising for sheep tail-type trait. The GBS data have been useful to assess the population structure and improve our understanding of the genomic architecture of distinctive characteristics shaped by selection pressure in local sheep breeds. This study successfully investigates a cost-efficient method to discover genotypes, assign populations and understand insights into sheep adaptation to arid area. GBS could be of potential utility in livestock species in developing/emerging countries., (© 2023 Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.)

Fecundity gene introgression has become an economical method to improve sheep prolificacy in developing countries. The FecX Bar and FecGH mutations are variants of the BMP15 and GDF9 sheep genes, respectively, identified in Tunisian Barbarine sheep prolific line "W-INRAT," created through a prolificacy-based selection program. The first mutation caused increased prolificacy in heterozygous state and sterility in homozygous ewes. The aim of this work was to increase the number of effective carriers by the introgression of fecundity mutation into non-carrier conventional flocks based on a marker-assisted breeding program. The genotyping was carried out to follow up on the segregation of prolificacy mutation. The conventional ewes, raised in state farms of Tunisia and inseminated by "W-INRAT" rams, yielded 100% carriers females at heterozygous state. These females were selected to be inseminated with conventional rams and produced carriers' lambs with 66.7% males and 33.3% females. The prolific males will be kept in breeding centers to disseminate the fecundity mutation in commercial flocks. This approach facilitates the dissemination of fecundity genes and contributes to livelihood improvement in communities raising Barbarine sheep., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The Tunisian Noire de Thibar sheep breed is a composite breed, recently selected to create animals that are uniformly black in order to avoid skin photosensitization after the ingestion of toxic " hypericum perforatum " weeds, which causes a major economic loss to sheep farmers. We assessed genetic differentiation and estimated marker F ST using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) data in black (Noire de Thibar) and related white-coated (Queue fine de l'ouest) sheep breeds to identify signals of artificial selection. The results revealed the selection signatures within candidate genes related to coat color, which are assumed to be indirectly involved in the mechanism of photosensitization in sheep. The identified genes could provide important information for molecular breeding.