Modern Horse Population Genetic Structure and Selection Signal Analysis Based on Wholegenome Sequencing

Abstract:

This study,based on wholegenome sequencing data,used 406 horses from 76 horse breeds worldwide as the research subjects.Three sophisticated methodologiesprincipal component analysis,phylogenetic tree,and ancestral component analysis,were used to comprehensively assess the genetic structure of modern horses at the genetic level.Additionally,genetic diversity of modern horse populations was evaluated using nucleotide diversity as an indicator,and the Fst and XPEHH selection methods were applied to detect genomic selection signals between different horse populations.Five candidate genes(HBB,EPAS1,TMEM247,RHOQ and ATP6V1E2) significantly related to the highaltitude adaptation of Tibetan horses,three candidate genes (HMGA2,TBX3 and TBX5) significantly related to body size traits of Chinese Southwest horses,and genes (IGFBP3,IGFBP1,THSD7A,ADCY1) significantly related to the equestrian performances,behavior,and movements of highly selected horses in Europe and America were selected.This study provides a scientific basis for further protecting the germplasm resources of local horse breeds and reveals the selection direction of artificially cultivated horse breeds.