Association of the LPL gene polymorphisms with fatty acid composition in the longissimus dorsi muscle of Hu sheep

Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is regarded as a candidate gene to regulate fatty acid (FA) composition. The study examined the mRNA expression levels of LPL in different tissues, and conducted a genetic association between the FA composition of the longissimus dorsi muscle of 1029 Hu sheep and the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the LPL gene, as well as the combined genotypes and haplotypes. The results showed that LPL had the highest expression levels in tail fat and subcutaneous fat. Eight SNPs were identified and successfully typed in the intronic region of the LPL gene. Correlation analysis showed that all eight SNPs were related to FA composition. Among them, the CC genotype of SNP1 (g.13879 T>C), the AA genotype of SNP2 (g.13971 A>G), and the TT genotype of SNP3 (g.13993 T>A) had the lowest levels of C8:0 and the highest levels of C18:3n3 content. The TT genotype of SNP6 (g.23413 T>C) and SNP7 (g.23469 T>C) and the AA genotype of SNP8 (g.23472 T>A) had the highest levels of C20:1 content. Linkage disequilibrium analysis showed that SNP1, SNP2, and SNP3 were located in block1, SNP4 (g.17118 A>G) and SNP5 (g.17188 A>G) were located in block2, and SNP6, SNP7, and SNP8 were located in block3. The C18:2n6c content of the TTAAAA combined genotypes in Block1 and the GGGG combined genotypes in Block2 was significantly higher than other combined genotypes. Haplotypes in both Block1 and Block2 significantly affected C18:0, C20:1, and C18:3n3. In conclusion, these genetic markers provide an important source of variation for the selection of FA composition of sheep muscle, which can accelerate the sheep breeding of high-quality meat with a balanced distribution of FA composition.