Abstract: This experiment was designed to study the effects of polymorphism of DLX3 gene on wool quality and growth traits in sheep. Five strains of Chinese Merino (Xinjiang Junken Type) sheep were used in the present study. The polymorphism in 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of DLX3 gene was detected and identified using DNA sequencing, and SNP genotyping was performed by PCRRFLP analysis. Allele frequencies were analyzed by Chisquare test. Haplotypes were constructed by linkage disequilibrium analysis. The association between the SNPs and haplotypes and wool quality and growth traits were assessed by JMP4.0 software, respectively. The result showed that the allele frequencies for these four SNPs were significantly different among the five Chinese sheep strains (P<0.01). The genotype distribution in super fine wool strain were different from that in the other four strains, and the genotype distribution in two prolificacy strains were significantly different from that in other three noprolificacy strains (P<0.01); Association analysis displayed that the four SNPs and their haplotypes had consistently significant effect on wool curvature (P<0.05), but no significant effect on other traits (P>0.05). The result indicate that polymorphisms of 3′UTR of DLX3 gene are significantly correlated with wool curvature in Chinese Merino (Xinjiang Junken Type) sheep, and these SNPs can be used in molecular MAS for wool quality traits.

Key words: Chinese Merino (Xinjiang Junken Type) sheep, DLX3 gene, SNPs, 3′UTRDLX3（Distalless homeobox 3）