Sequence analysis and diversity of polymorphisms in the GDF9 gene (exon 1) have a novel base substitution (A-T) for detection of Fec mutations that serve as a molecular marker for twinning.

This study was intended to detect the polymorphism of bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) gene that can act as marker influencing fertility for increasing litter size in Egyptian sheep breeds (191 Saidi and 145 Ossimi females). In this study, the mean litter size, showed highly significant between Saidi and Ossimi sheep breads, however, litter size of Saidi white sheep was significantly decreased compared to black and brown. Blood samples were collected from 19 Saidi and 13 Ossimi female and then genomic DNA was extracted. A portion of bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) gene, 310 bp was amplified using specific primers, and was sequenced and analyzed to clarify the phylogenetic relationship of Egyptian breed sheep. The data suggested that the gene shared a similarity in sequence compared to 9 accession numbers of Ovis aries found in GenBank. Molecular phylogenetic analyses were performed based on nucleotide sequences in order to examine the position of the Egyptian breeds among many other sheep breeds. The results indicate that 5 accession numbers of Ovis aries are closely related with Ossimi and Saidi female that produce single or twins lamb in UPGMA analysis. In addition, PCR-RFLP method using Pst1 and Msp1 restriction enzymes was used to mask polymorphisms of partial exon 2 in 18 female sheep. Results showed that FecX gene was monomorphic and disagreement with litter size, therefore, it is indispensable to survey other gene in order to establish marker assisted selection technique.