KRTAP8-1 was the initial high-glycine-tyrosine keratin-associated protein gene recognized in sheep, but little is known about the functional influence of this gene. The current study used polymerase chain reaction-single stranded conformational polymorphism analysis to genotype KRTAP8-1 in 391 Southdown × Merino-cross sheep from six sire-lines. Five previously described variants (named A to E) of KRTAP8-1 were identified with frequencies of 67.0, 14.2, 7.0, 10.7 and 1.0%, respectively. Of the four variants (A, B, C and D) that occurred at a frequency greater than 5%, the presence of C was found to be associated with a reduction in mean fibre curvature (MFC) and the presence of D was associated with an increase in mean staple strength (MSS), whereas the presence of A had a trend of association with reduced MSS. Associations were not identified with other wool traits. These results suggest that variation in KRTAP8-1 affects MSS and MFC, and that KRTAP8-1 has the potential to be used as a genetic marker for improving these traits.

中文翻译：

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绵羊 KRTAP8-1 的变化与羊毛纤维短纤维强度和曲率的变化有关

KRTAP8-1是在绵羊中识别的最初的高甘氨酸 - 酪氨酸角蛋白相关蛋白基因，但对该基因的功能影响知之甚少。本研究采用聚合酶链反应-单链构象多态性分析进行基因分型KRTAP8-1来自 6 个父系的 391 Southdown × Merino-cross 羊。五个先前描述的变体（命名为一种到乙） 的KRTAP8-1的频率分别为 67.0、14.2、7.0、10.7 和 1.0%。四种变体中（一种,乙,C和D) 发生频率大于 5% 时，存在C被发现与平均纤维曲率 (MFC) 的降低和D与平均主食强度 (MSS) 的增加有关，而一种有与降低 MSS 相关的趋势。没有发现与其他羊毛性状的关联。这些结果表明，在KRTAP8-1影响 MSS 和 MFC，并且KRTAP8-1有可能被用作改善这些性状的遗传标记。