Association of HOXC8 Genetic Polymorphisms with Multi-Vertebral Number and Carcass Weight in Dezhou Donkey.

An increase in the number of vertebrae can significantly affect the meat production performance of livestock, thus increasing carcass weight, which is of great importance for livestock production. The homeobox gene C8 () has been identified as an essential candidate gene for regulating vertebral development. However, it has not been researched on the Dezhou donkey. This study aimed to verify the Dezhou donkey gene's polymorphisms and assess their effects on multiple vertebral numbers and carcass weight. In this study, the entire gene of the Dezhou donkey was sequenced, SNPs at the whole gene level were identified, and typing was accomplished utilizing a targeted sequencing genotype detection technique (GBTS). Then, a general linear model was used to perform an association study of gene polymorphism loci, multiple vertebral numbers, and carcass weight for screening candidate markers that can be used for molecular breeding of Dezhou donkeys. These findings revealed that included 12 SNPs, all unique mutant loci. The g.15179224C>T was significantly negatively associated with carcass weight (CW) and lumbar vertebrae length (LL) ( < 0.05). The g.15179674G>A locus was shown to be significantly positively associated with the number of lumbar vertebrae (LN) ( < 0.05). The phylogenetic tree constructed for the Dezhou donkey gene and seven other species revealed that the gene was highly conserved during animal evolution but differed markedly among distantly related animals. The results suggest that is a vital gene affecting multiple vertebral numbers and carcass weight in Dezhou donkeys, and the two loci g.15179224C>T and g.15179674G>A may be potential genetic markers for screening and breeding of new strains of high-quality and high-yielding Dezhou donkeys.