Detection of Grivette BMP15 prolificacy variant (FecXGR) in different sheep breeds presented in Galicia (NW Spain)

Productivity traits, such as prolificacy, are of high importance in livestock species. These traits depend basically on many environmental and genetic factors. In sheep, some genes (mainly belonging to the transforming growth factor β genes superfamily) have an important effect on prolificacy, where the bone morphogenetic factor 15 (BMP15, also named FecX) gene is included. For BMP15, different variants causing either complete sterility or hyperprolificacy in homozygosity have been described. To know the presence of these variants or new ones in Galicia (NW Spain), the complete exon 2 of the BMP15 gene (where most of the described variants are located) was sequenced for rams and ewes from four different pure breeds (Romanov, Suffolk, Dorper and the endemic Ovella Galega) present in this region and selected by their prolificacy history in the studied sheep flocks. The prolificacy Grivette variant (FecXGR) described previously was found for the first time either in rams or ewes from three of the unrelated breeds studied including Romanov, Dorper and Ovella Galega. This result suggests the ancestry of this variant in the species. Moreover, the present study confirms that the FecXGR variant does not induce sterility in homozygosity which facilitates its selection, management and conservation within the flocks and breeds. Therefore, its presence can amount to high economic benefits to sheep breeders.