ArticlePLoS biology2012
Genome-wide analysis of the world's sheep breeds reveals high levels of historic mixture and strong recent selection.
Article in PLoS biology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 427 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
427 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of guinea fowl diversity and its economic, socio-cultural and ecological significance in Africa.Tropical animal health and production · 2025Pooled it
- Genome-wide association studies of body weight, body conformation traits and coat color in Gamba sheep.Animal bioscience · 2026Article
- Genetic Structure and Selection Signals in Hetian Gray Donkeys and Xinjiang Donkeys from Xinjiang, China.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Genome-Wide SNP Characterisation of Three Kazakh Sheep Breeds: Kazakh Fat-Tailed Coarse-Wool, Degeres, and Etti Merino.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Article
- Unravelling the genetic structure and genetic relationships of indigenous Greek sheep breeds using SNP markers.Genetics, selection, evolution : GSE · 2026Article
- Genome-wide comparison of traditional and commercial Mehraban sheep populations reveals differences in genetic structure, linkage disequilibrium, and inbreeding patterns.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Effects of Crossbreeding on Growth Performance and Carcass Traits in Sheep Under Extensive Pasture Systems.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Identification of Genomic Differences Resulting from Selection in Iranian Kurdish and Turkmen Horse Breeds Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.Iranian journal of biotechnology · 2026Article
- Genome-Wide Diversity of Goats From Indonesia and the Philippines Reveals Local Ancestry With Different Levels of Cosmopolitan Admixture.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Genetic architecture of two novel chicken breeds from Xinjiang: A whole-genome sequencing study on Ili gamecock and Yemili Chicken.Poultry science · 2026Article
- Large-Scale Genomics Reveals Three-Source Ancestry and Layered Adaptation to High Altitude in Tibetan Chickens.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Genomic insights into Greek sheep structure and admixture with global domestic breeds.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Sheep erythrocyte potassium locus highlights MYADM family regulation of electroneutral potassium chloride cotransporters (KCC).BMC genomics · 2026Article
- An analysis of the genomic architecture of the worldwide Irish Wolfhound dogs.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- An increased number of heterozygous calls in the AxiomTM Equine Genotyping Array.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Article
- RASEL: An Ensemble Model for Selection of Core SNPs and Its Application for Identification and Classification of Cattle Breeds.Biochemical genetics · 2026Article
- Comprehensive analysis of population structure and genomic diversity in fifteen Anatolian sheep breeds.BMC veterinary research · 2026Article
- Runs of homozygosity reveal population dynamics and selection across global cattle.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Advances in Molecular Genetics and Breeding of Cattle, Sheep, and Goats.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
367 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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17 authors.
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Abstract
Through their domestication and subsequent selection, sheep have been adapted to thrive in a diverse range of environments. To characterise the genetic consequence of both domestication and selection, we genotyped 49,034 SNP in 2,819 animals from a diverse collection of 74 sheep breeds. We find the majority of sheep populations contain high SNP diversity and have retained an effective population size much higher than most cattle or dog breeds, suggesting domestication occurred from a broad genetic base. Extensive haplotype sharing and generally low divergence time between breeds reveal frequent genetic exchange has occurred during the development of modern breeds. A scan of the genome for selection signals revealed 31 regions containing genes for coat pigmentation, skeletal morphology, body size, growth, and reproduction. We demonstrate the strongest selection signal has occurred in response to breeding for the absence of horns. The high density map of genetic variability provides an in-depth view of the genetic history for this important livestock species.
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