Mapping the Horns (Ho) locus in sheep: a further locus controlling horn development in domestic animals.

The presence or absence of horns in Merino sheep is under the genetic control of the autosomal Horns (Ho) locus. Sheep chromosome OOV1 is a candidate region for the Ho locus because it shows conserved synteny with cattle chromosome BBO1 where the cattle polled locus has been located. We demonstrate that the Ho locus in sheep is excluded from sheep chromosome OOV1 and we identified linkage between the Ho locus and markers from sheep chromosome OOV10. These data suggest that there are at least two loci affecting the presence or absence of horns in sheep and cattle. The orthologous regions to OOV10 are likely to be on cattle, human, and mouse chromosomes BBO12, HSA13, and MMU14.