Polymorphisms in the ovine gene associated with blood physiological indices.

This study aimed to analyze the effects of polymorphisms in on blood physiological indices of 1065 sheep. The coefficients of variation of the red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin concentration (HGB), mean platelet volume (MPV), mean erythrocyte hemoglobin content (MCH), and red blood cell distribution-coefficient of variation (RDW-CV) were greater than 10%, and there was a very significant correlation between the main indices such as RBC, white blood cell, and platelet count (PLT) and most other indices ( 0.01). qRT-PCR showed that was expressed in the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, rumen, duodenum, muscle, tail fat, and lymph tissue, with significantly higher expression in the lymph. Subsequently, we detected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in from group, which identified synonymous mutation g.657 T > C in the first exon of . Association analysis showed significant correlations between the SNP and the physiological traits ( 0.05), in which the RBC, neutrophilic granulocyte (NEUT) and RDW-CV values in sheep with the genotype and genotype were markedly lower than those in the genotype ( 0.05). Thus, polymorphisms could be candidate biomarkers to screen blood physiological indices.