Genome-wide study for SNPS associated with average daily growth for genotyping by sequencing and identification of candidate genes in jalgin merino

To improve the productive qualities of sheep bred in sheep farms, an important factor is the selection activities aimed at selecting animals for economically valuable traits. For this purpose, methods of markerassociated selection based on genotyping data are widely used. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) is used to identify single nucleotide substitutions suitable for genotyping by sequencing and to discover new candidate genes for productive traits. This work is devoted to the search for genome loci associated with the "average daily gain" trait using the GWAS method in Jalgin Merino for further use in breeding. A genome-wide study was carried out using Illumina Ovine Infinium HD BeadChip 600K on rams aged 12 months, bred in the Ipatovsky district of the Stavropol Territory. Quality control of genotyping, as well as genetic and statistical analysis of the obtained data, was performed using PLINK V.1.07. Visualization and plotting were carried out using the QQman package in the R programming language. A genome- wide study for associations showed a significant relationship between 10 detected SNPs and the average daily gain. Analysis of the localization of single nucleotide substitutions found 5 genes next to them: BABAM2, ELL2, ENSOARG00000019376, PLA2G10, ENSOARG00000003785. Their protein products are involved in the implementation of genetic information, cell differentiation and the flow of important metabolic processes in the body. Further research is needed to study the structure of the proposed candidate genes in order to understand the mechanisms of their influence on the phenotypic manifestation of economically valuable traits in sheep of domestic breeds.