Genome-Wide Characterization of Heterozygosity-Rich Regions in Kazakh Native Sheep Breeds.
4 affiliations
- 1Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Cytogenetics, RSE Institute of Genetics and Physiology, Committee of Science of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
- 2Animal Breeding Section, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Eastern Regional Station, Kalyani, India.
- 3Center for Bio- and Medical Technologies, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), Moscow, Russia.
- 4Animal Science Research Department, Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Sanandaj, Iran.
Abstract
Heterozygosity-rich regions (HRR) are genomic segments characterized by high heterozygosity that may arise from admixture, introgression, or balancing selection and may harbor loci associated with adaptation and fitness-related traits. This study aimed to characterize HRR patterns in five Kazakh sheep breeds using a publicly available OvineSNP50 genotyping dataset. After quality control, ~25 000 SNPs were retained for 1634 Akzhaiyk, 1089 Edilbay, 532 Kazakh Fine-Wool, 932 Kazakh Semi-Coarse, and 282 Saryarka sheep. HRR were detected separately in each breed using the sliding-window approach in detectRUNS R package, with a minimum segment length of 250 kb, at least 10 SNPs per window and segment, and a maximum of two opposing homozygous and one missing SNP per window. The average number of HRR per individual ranged from 40.75 ± 6.38 in Saryarka to 54.75 ± 7.34 in Kazakh Fine-Wool sheep. HRR lengths ranged from 259.07 kb to 3.26 Mb, with an average of 0.7 Mb across breeds. Seventeen HRR islands, defined as regions shared by HRR in at least 25% of individuals within a breed, were identified, including regions on chromosomes 8 and 17 shared across all breeds. Genes overlapping these islands were associated with cellular homeostasis, immunity, metabolism, growth, and stress response, while the HRR islands overlapped with QTL associated with health, wool characteristics, and reproduction. These findings highlight the potential of HRR analysis to identify candidate genomic regions relevant to adaptation and economically important traits, providing insights for the conservation and genetic improvement of Kazakh sheep populations.
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BibTeX
@article{bakhtybekkyzy2026genomewide,
title = {{Genome-Wide Characterization of Heterozygosity-Rich Regions in Kazakh Native Sheep Breeds.}},
author = {Sholpan Bakhtybekkyzy and Zarina Orazymbetova and Aizhan Mussayeva and Aidana Bekitayeva and Ajoy Mandal and Hasan Baneh},
journal = {Animal genetics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/age.70219},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42875897},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Genome-Wide Characterization of Heterozygosity-Rich Regions in Kazakh Native Sheep Breeds.
AU - Sholpan Bakhtybekkyzy
AU - Zarina Orazymbetova
AU - Aizhan Mussayeva
AU - Aidana Bekitayeva
AU - Ajoy Mandal
AU - Hasan Baneh
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Animal genetics
DO - 10.1002/age.70219
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42875897
AB - Heterozygosity-rich regions (HRR) are genomic segments characterized by high heterozygosity that may arise from admixture, introgression, or balancing selection and may harbor loci associated with adaptation and fitness-related traits. This study aimed to characterize HRR patterns in five Kazakh sheep breeds using a publicly available OvineSNP50 genotyping dataset. After quality control, ~25 000 SNPs were retained for 1634 Akzhaiyk, 1089 Edilbay, 532 Kazakh Fine-Wool, 932 Kazakh Semi-Coarse, and 282 Saryarka sheep. HRR were detected separately in each breed using the sliding-window approach in detectRUNS R package, with a minimum segment length of 250 kb, at least 10 SNPs per window and segment, and a maximum of two opposing homozygous and one missing SNP per window. The average number of HRR per individual ranged from 40.75 ± 6.38 in Saryarka to 54.75 ± 7.34 in Kazakh Fine-Wool sheep. HRR lengths ranged from 259.07 kb to 3.26 Mb, with an average of 0.7 Mb across breeds. Seventeen HRR islands, defined as regions shared by HRR in at least 25% of individuals within a breed, were identified, including regions on chromosomes 8 and 17 shared across all breeds. Genes overlapping these islands were associated with cellular homeostasis, immunity, metabolism, growth, and stress response, while the HRR islands overlapped with QTL associated with health, wool characteristics, and reproduction. These findings highlight the potential of HRR analysis to identify candidate genomic regions relevant to adaptation and economically important traits, providing insights for the conservation and genetic improvement of Kazakh sheep populations.
SN - 0268-9146
SN - 1365-2052
ER -