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A comprehensive study of the indigenous Cretan sheep breeds was conducted involving both body measurements and genetic analyses. Body measurements of female sheep (Anogia (n=7); Asterousia (n=23); Sfakia (n=17) and Sitia (n=43)) included withers height, body length, ear length, tail length and girth, and body weight. Results indicated that the Sfakia breed had the highest withers height (62.7 ± 2.4 cm) while the Sitia breed had the lowest (59.1 ± 5.3 cm). In addition, the Sfakia breed showed the greatest body length (65.4 ± 5.5 cm), and the Sitia breed the smallest (60.8 ± 4.3 cm). In terms of body weight, the Sfakia breed was the heaviest (38 ± 4.2 kg) and the Anogia breed the lightest (21 ± 2.5 kg). For genetic identification, blood was sampled from 25 Anogia, 27 Asterousia, 31 Sfakia, 12 Sitia, 58 Kasos Island and 15 Karpathos Island sheep individuals. Genotypes of over 45,000 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) were obtained for each breed, using the OvineSNP50 BeadChip (Illumina). Observed and expected heterozygosity, allelic richness, and the inbreeding coefficient were calculated. The highest observed heterozygosity based on SNP haplotype blocks was in the Anogia and Sitia breeds (0.78), while Anogia also had the highest expected heterozygosity (0.81) and allelic richness (7.53). The highest genomic inbreeding coefficient (0.175) was estimated in the Karpathos population and the lowest (0.062) in the Anogia breed. Genetic relatedness and distances among the breeds/populations were analyzed and depicted in phylogenetic trees, revealing significant insights into the genetic diversity and relationships of these sheep populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ear length in sheep (Ovis aries) shows a wide range of natural variation, from the absence of an outer ear structure (anotia), to small outer ears (microtia), to regular ear length. Up until now, the underlying genetics of this phenotype has been studied in four sheep breeds from China, Jordan and Italy. These studies revealed a broad range of genes significantly associated with ear length, potentially indicating genetic heterogeneity across breeds or geographic regions. In the current study, we performed genome‐wide SNP genotyping and haplotype‐based mapping, in a population of 340 individuals, to identify loci influencing ear length variation in additional sheep breeds from Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus and Greece. Additionally, two previously described candidate variants were also genotyped in our mapping population. The mapping model without candidate variant genotypes revealed only one genome‐wide significant signal, which was located next to HMX1 on OAR6. This region was previously described as being associated with ear length variation in the Altay and Awassi sheep breeds. The mapping model including the candidate duplication genotype near HMX1 as a fixed effect explained the phenotypic variance on OAR6 and revealed an additional genome‐wide significant locus on OAR13 associated with ear length. Our results, combined with published evidence, suggest that a duplication in the evolutionarily conserved region near HMX1 is the major regulator of ear length in sheep breeds descended from a larger region from Central Asia, to the Middle East, Cyprus, Greece and to the Alps. This distribution suggests an ancient origin of the derived allele. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the domestication of goats around 10,000 years before the present (BP), humans transported goats far beyond the range of their wild ancestor, the bezoar goat. This brought domestic goats into contact with many wild goat species such as ibex and markhor, enabling introgression between domestic and wild goats. To investigate this, while shedding light on the taxonomic status of wild and domestic goats, we analysed genome‐wide SNP data of 613 specimens from 14 taxonomic units, including Capra hircus, C. pyrenaica, C. ibex (from Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Slovenia), C. aegagrus aegagrus, C. a. cretica, C. h. dorcas, C. caucasica caucasica, C. c. severtzovi, C. c. cylindricornis, C. falconeri, C. sibirica sibirica, C. s. alaiana and C. nubiana, as well as Oreamnos americanus (mountain goat) as an outgroup. To trace gene flow between domestic and wild goats, we integrated genotype data of local goat breeds from the Alps as well as from countries such as Spain, Greece, Türkiye, Egypt, Sudan, Iran, Russia (Caucasus and Altai) and Pakistan. Our phylogenetic analyses displayed a clear separation between bezoar‐type and ibex‐type clades with wild goats from the Greek islands of Crete and Youra clustered within domestic goats, confirming their feral origin. Our analyses also revealed gene flow between the lineages of Caucasian tur and domestic goats that most likely occurred before or during early domestication. Within the clade of domestic goats, analyses inferred gene flow between African and Iberian goats. The detected events of introgression were consistent with previous reports and offered interesting insights into the historical relationships among domestic and wild goats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]