Abstract In this study, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) within the full length of the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) gene in Hu sheep were detected and the functional SNPs associated with growth traits of Hu sheep were screened. Using a total of 202 female Hu sheep samples, this study investigated the genetic structure and genetic diversity of the Hu sheep population using PCR amplification, sequencing, and sequence analysis. We analyzed the association between SNPs and body weight and body size traits of Hu sheep and further studied the effect of MC4R gene SNPs on gene transcriptional activity. We found 19 SNPs in the MC4R gene of the Hu sheep population. Furthermore, we observed that the two SNPs (g.706 C→A, g.732 C→G) in the MC4R gene were significantly correlated with the adult height of female Hu sheep. The results of dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that the MC4R gene SNPs (g.706 C→A) had no significant effect on the activity of luciferase (P > 0.05), while the SNPs g.732 C→G showed significant effect (P

中文翻译：

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黑皮质素4受体（MC4R）基因多态性与胡羊生长性状的相关性

摘要 本研究检测了胡羊黑皮质素4受体（MC4R）基因全长内的单核苷酸多态性（SNPs），筛选出与胡羊生长性状相关的功能性SNPs。本研究使用总共 202 只雌性胡羊样本，通过 PCR 扩增、测序和序列分析研究了胡羊种群的遗传结构和遗传多样性。我们分析了胡羊SNPs与体重和体型性状之间的关联，并进一步研究了MC4R基因SNPs对基因转录活性的影响。我们在胡羊群体的MC4R基因中发现了19个SNP。此外，我们观察到MC4R基因中的两个SNP（g.706 C→A，g.732 C→G）与雌性胡羊的成年身高显着相关。