Application of SNP-panels for targeted sequencing in genotyping young sheep of the Russian meat merino breed

Targeted sequencing is a promising method for genetic research in agriculture It is highly accurate, scalable and cost-effective, and these characteristics make it an important tool for animal breeding, quality control and genetic analysis. The creation of specialized panels of loci, such as AgriSeq, allows focusing on specific regions of the genome, such as SNPs associated with economically valuable traits (e.g., meat production), allowing breeders to specifically select animals with desired characteristics. This eliminates the randomness of traditional breeding methods, speeds up the process and increases its accuracy due to direct action on target genes. Panels are developed using bioinformatics tools that analyze genomic data and select the most informative SNPs. The aim of the study is to investigate the efficiency of detection and prevalence of loci from the proposed set of SNPs in the survey of new generations of Russian meat merino sheep breed. The object of the study was rams of the Russian meat merino breed born in 2021 and 2022 at the age of 12 months (n = 110). The developed panel of loci using AgriSeq technology contains 544 SNPs suitable for estimation of sheep parentage and 295 SNPs related to meat productivity of animals. After adjusting the list of loci for genotyping by sequencing in Russian meat merino sheep, it was found that the selected polymorphisms can be informative for a sufficiently long time. Analysis of the results showed that after modification of the set of loci, the panel for genotyping by sequencing in lambs showed high efficiency of detection of all variants of genotypes. The proposed panel of SNP loci meets the minimum requirements of the Russian legislation for determining the reliability of origin in breeding farms and will provide transparency and reliability of genetic information, which is important for certification of breeding animals. It is easy to use and can be implemented in breeding programs at the level of breeding farms and large farms.