Investigation of BMP15 and GDF9 gene polymorphisms and their effects on litter size in Anatolian sheep breed Akkaraman

This study aimed to examine the polymorphism of the BMP15 (FecXG and FecXI) and GDF9 (G1 and G4) genes and the association between genotypes and litter size in the Akkaraman breed. Blood samples were taken from 100 ewes in total. Genomic DNA was obtained from whole blood. The PCR-RFLP technique was employed to determine the polymorphisms of the genes under investigation. The G1 was the only polymorphic among the four loci analyzed. The frequencies for the GA and GG genotypes were 0.26 and 0.74, respectively, while the A and G allele frequencies were 0.13 and 0.87, respectively. The observed and expected heterozygosity values were 0.260 and 0.227, respectively. According to chi-square analysis, the tested Akkaraman population was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p > 0.05). The association analyses showed that the genotypic structure did not significantly affect litter size in the Akkaraman ewes (p > 0.05). However, ewes with one copy of the G1 mutation produced 0.13 more lambs than those without the mutation (p > 0.05), suggesting that heterozygous ewes have a proclivity to increase litter size, as evidenced by previous studies.