• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.1226-1236
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• 2022

Mongolian horses are one of the oldest horse breeds, and are very important livestock in Mongolia as they are used in various fields such as transportation, food (milk, meat), and horse racing. In addition, research and preservation on pure Mongolian breeds are being promoted under the implementation of the new Genetics of Livestock Resources' act in Mongolia. However, despite the implementation of this act, genetic research on Mongolian horses using microsatellites (MS) has not progressed enough. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze the genetic polymorphism of five breeds (Gobi shankh, Tes, Gal shar, Darkhad, and Undurshil) using 14 MS markers recommended by International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG). The mean number of alleles (MNA) was 8.29, expected heterozygosity frequency (H_Exp) was 0.767, observed heterozygosity frequency (H_Obs) was 0.752, and polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.729. The Nei's genetic distance analysis showed that the genetic distance between Gobi shankh and Darkhad horses was the farthest, and the other three breeds, Tes, Gal shar, and Undurshil were found to be close to each other. Similarly, the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) showed that the Gobi shankh and Darkhad horses were genetically distinct from other breeds. On the other hand, it appears that Tes, Gal shar, and Undurshil horses, which are genetically similar, most likely interbred with each other. Therefore, it is expected that these results will help the conservation of genetic resources in Mongolia and the establishment of policies related to Mongolian horses.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.784-788
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• 2006

Microsatellite polymorphism and the genetic relationship were estimated using genotype information of 305 horses from 11 microsatellite loci. The breeds include the indigenous Korean breeds, Korean native horse (102) and Jeju racing horse (56) together with Japan Hokkaido horse (5), Mongolian horse (19), Thoroughbred horse (108), Quarter horse (11) and Przewalskii horse (4). Allelic frequencies, the number of alleles per locus were estimated by direct counting from observed genotype, and genetic variability was computed using the CERVUX software and DISPAN. The number of alleles per locus varied from 6 (HMS6) to 18 (ASB17) with an average value of 10.45 in horse breeds. The expected total heterozygosity ($H_T$) and coefficient of gene differentiation ($G_{ST}$) ranged 0.764-0.921 (the average value was 0.830) and 0.102-0.266 (the average value was 0.180) in horse breeds, respectively. Four populations (Przewalskii horse, Japan Hokkaido horse, Quarter horse, Thoroughbred horse) showed lower heterozygosity than the average value (the average value was 0.710). The expected heterozygosity within breed ($H_S$) and mean no. of observed alleles ranged from $0.636{\pm}0.064$ (Japan Hokkaido horse) to $0.809{\pm}0.019$ (Mongolian horse), and from 2.73 (Przewalskii horse) to 8.27 (Korean native horse), respectively. The polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.490 (Przewalskii horse) to 0.761 (Mongolian horse) with an average value of 0.637 in horse breeds. The results showed three distinct clusters with high bootstrap support: the Korean native horse cluster (Korean native horse, Mongolian horse), the European cluster (Przewalskii horse, Thoroughbred horse), and other horse cluster (Jeju racing horse, Japan Hokkaido horse, and Quarter horse). A relatively high bootstrap value was observed for the Korean native horse cluster and European cluster (87%), and the Korean native horse and Mongolian horse (82%). Microsatellite polymorphism data were shown to be useful for estimating the genetic relationship between Korean native horse and other horse breeds, and also be applied for parentage testing in those horse breeds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1345-1352
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• 2016

The hindgut of horses is an anaerobic fermentative chamber for a complex and dynamic microbial population, which plays a critical role in health and energy requirements. Research on the gut microbiota of Mongolian horses has not been reported until now as far as we know. Mongolian horse is a major local breed in China. We performed high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes V4 hypervariable regions from gut fecal material to characterize the gut microbiota of Mongolian horses and compare them to the microbiota in Thoroughbred horses. Fourteen Mongolian and 19 Thoroughbred horses were used in the study. A total of 593,678 sequence reads were obtained from 33 samples analyzed, which were found to belong to 16 phyla and 75 genera. The bacterial community compositions were similar for the two breeds. Firmicutes (56% in Mongolian horses and 53% in Thoroughbred horses) and Bacteroidetes (33% and 32% respectively) were the most abundant and predominant phyla followed by Spirochaete, Verrucomicrobia, Proteobacteria, and Fibrobacteres. Of these 16 phyla, five (Synergistetes, Planctomycetes, Proteobacteria, TM7, and Chloroflexi) were significantly different (p<0.05) between the two breeds. At the genus level, Treponema was the most abundant genus (43% in Mongolian horses vs 29% in Thoroughbred horses), followed by Ruminococcus, Roseburia, Pseudobutyrivibrio, and Anaeroplasma, which were detected in higher distribution proportion in Mongolian horses than in Thoroughbred horses. In contrast, Oscillibacter, Fibrobacter, Methanocorpusculum, and Succinivibrio levels were lower in Mongolian horses. Among 75 genera, 30 genera were significantly different (p<0.05) between the two breeds. We found that the environment was one of very important factors that influenced horse gut microbiota. These findings provide novel information about the gut microbiota of Mongolian horses and a foundation for future investigations of gut bacterial factors that may influence the development and progression of gastrointestinal disease in horses.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.939-948
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• 2019

Objective: Extension and Agouti loci play a key role for proportions of eumelanin and pheomelanin in determining coat color in several species, including goat. Mongolian goats exhibit diverse types of coat color phenotypes. In this study, investigation of the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) coding region in different coat colors in Mongolian goats was performed to ascertain the presence of the extension allele. Methods: A total of 105 goat samples representing three goat breeds were collected for this study from middle Mongolia. A 938 base pair (bp) long coding region of the MC1R gene was sequenced for three different breeds with different coat colors (Gobi Gurwan Saikhan: complete black, Zalaa Jinstiin Tsagaan: complete white, Mongolian native goat: admixture of different of coat colors). The genotypes of these goats were obtained from analyzing and comparing the sequencing results. Results: A total of seven haplotypes defined by five substitution were identified. The five single nucleotide polymorphisms included two synonymous mutations (c.183C>T and c.489G>A) and three missense (non-synonymous) mutations (c.676A>G, c.748T>G, and c.770T>A). Comparison of genotypes frequencies of two common missense mutions using chi-sqaure ($x^2$) test revealed significant differences between coat color groups (p<0.001). A logistic regression analysis additionally suggested highly significant association between genotypes and variation of black versus white uniform combination. Alternatively, most investigated goats (60.4%) belonged to H2 (TGAGT) haplotype. Conclusion: According to the findings obtained in this study on the investigated coat colors, mutations in MC1R gene may have the crucial role for determining eumelanin and pheomelanin phenotypes. Due to the complication of coat color phenotype, more detailed investigation needed.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.1303-1313
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• 2022

Objective: The current study aimed to perform whole-genome resequencing of Chinese indigenous Mongolian sheep breeds including Ujimqin, Sunit, and Wu Ranke sheep breeds (UJMQ, SNT, WRK) and deeply analyze genetic variation, population structure, domestication, and selection for domestication traits among these Mongolian sheep breeds. Methods: Blood samples were collected from a total of 60 individuals comprising 20 WRK, 20 UJMQ, and 20 SNT. For genome sequencing, about 1.5 ㎍ of genomic DNA was used for library construction with an insert size of about 350 bp. Pair-end sequencing were performed on Illumina NovaSeq platform, with the read length of 150 bp at each end. We then investigated the domestication and signatures of selection in these sheep breeds. Results: According to the population and demographic analyses, WRK and SNT populations were very similar, which were different from UJMQ populations. Genome wide association study identified 468 and 779 significant loci from SNT vs UJMQ, and UJMQ vs WRK, respectively. However, only 3 loci were identified from SNT vs WRK. Genomic comparison and selective sweep analysis among these sheep breeds suggested that genes associated with regulation of secretion, metabolic pathways including estrogen metabolism and amino acid metabolism, and neuron development have undergone strong selection during domestication. Conclusion: Our findings will facilitate the understanding of Chinese indigenous Mongolian sheep breeds domestication and selection for complex traits and provide a valuable genomic resource for future studies of sheep and other domestic animal breeding.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.902-912
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• 2020

Objective: Mongolia is one of a few countries that supports over 25 million goats, but genetic diversity, demographic history, and the origin of goat populations in Mongolia have not been well studied. This study was conducted to assess the genetic diversity, phylogenetic status and population structure of Mongolian native goats, as well as to discuss their origin together with other foreign breeds from different countries using hypervariable region 1 (HV1) in mtDNA. Methods: In this study, we examined the genetic diversity and phylogenetic status of Mongolian native goat populations using a 452 base-pair long fragment of HVI of mitochondrial DNA from 174 individuals representing 12 populations. In addition, 329 previously published reference sequences from different regions were included in our phylogenetic analyses. Results: Investigated native Mongolian goats displayed relatively high genetic diversities. After sequencing, we found a total of 109 polymorphic sites that defined 137 haplotypes among investigated populations. Of these, haplotype and nucleotide diversities of Mongolian goats were calculated as 0.997±0.001 and 0.0283±0.002, respectively. These haplotypes clearly clustered into four haplogroups (A, B, C, and D), with the predominance of haplogroup A (90.8%). Estimates of pairwise differences (Fst) and the analysis of molecular variance values among goat populations in Mongolia showed low genetic differentiation and weak geographical structure. In addition, Kazakh, Chinese (from Huanghuai and Leizhou), and Arabian (Turkish and Baladi breeds) goats had smaller genetic differentiation compared to Mongolian goats. Conclusion: In summary, we report novel information regarding genetic diversity, population structure, and origin of Mongolian goats. The findings obtained from this study reveal that abundant haplogroups (A to D) occur in goat populations in Mongolia, with high levels of haplotype and nucleotide diversity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1696-1702
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• 2008

In order to learn the origin of the Chinese Mongolian horse, we analyzed polymorphisms within the mtDNA D-loop variable region in 305 horses of 6 types of 3 different breeds, including one imported breed, one cultivated breed and 4 types of one local breed. We detected 13 different haplotypes, and subsequent sequence analysis showed that all 6 horse types were genetically diverse. By constructing a cladogram of mtDNA D-loop sequences from the 6 horse types along with homologous sequences from several other horse types obtained from GenBank, we showed that Chinese Mongolian horses have a close genetic relationship with other horse types from Mongolia. We also speculate that several Chinese Mongolian horses descended from Przewalskii horse. Additionally, the 13 haplotypes were dispersed throughout the cladogram, suggesting that Chinese Mongolian horses likely originated from multiple female ancestors. A phylogenetic map of the 6 horse types showed that the genetic relationship between the local Wuzhumuqin and Wushen types were the closest. The Xinihe and Baerhu were also closely related to each other, and slightly more distantly related to the cultivated Sanhe breed. All five of the local Chinese horse types had a much more distant relationship with the imported Thoroughbred breed.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.198-206
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• 2020

Food and agricultural production sector, especially livestock production is vital for Mongolia's economic and social development. Domestic sheep play key roles for Mongolians, providing food (meat, milk) and raw materials (wool, sheepskin), but genetic diversity, origin of sheep populations in Mongolia have not been well studied. Studies of population genetic diversity is important research field in conservation and restoration of animal breeds and genetic resources. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate genetic characteristics and estimate origin through the analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region D-loop and Cytochrome b of Mongolian indigenous sheep (Mongolian native, Orkhon and Altanbulag) and one Europe sheep (Suffolk). As a result of there were found, 220 SNPs (Single nucleotide polymorphism) in the D-loop region, 28 SNPs in the Cytochrome B region, furthermore, 77 Haplotypes. The nucleotide diversity was only found in D-loop region (n = 0.0184). Phylogenetic analysis showed that 3 (A, B, and C) of 5 haplogroups of sheep have been identified in our research. Haplogroup C was only found in Mongolian indigenous sheep. Haplogroup D and E were not observed. As a result of haplogroups, haplogroup A was dominant (n = 46 of 94 sheeps), followed by haplogroup B (n = 36) and haplogroup C (n = 12). Sequence analysis showed that T deletion, insertion and heteroplasmy in D-loop region occurred at a high rate in Mongolian indigenous sheep population (T insertion = 47, T deletion = 83). The heteroplasmy, which has never been found in Mongolian sheep, has been newly discovered in this study. As a result, the Mongolian sheep varieties, which mainly derived from Asia, were in hybridization with European sheep varieties.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.76-81
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• 2021

Halla horse is crossbreed between Jeju and Thoroughbred horses and is used for riding, racing and meat production. Thus, molecular genetic studies are needed to establish and preserve the industrially valuable Halla horses. This study aimed to analyses the genetic diversity and population structure through 12 microsatellite (MS) markers for Halla and putatively related 3 breeds (Jeju, Mongolian and Thoroughbred horses). On average, the number of alleles, observed heterozygosity (H_obs), expected heterozygosity (H_exp), and polymorphic information content (PIC) among all horses were 10, 0.767, 0.799, and 0.771, respectively. Neighbor-joining tree and STRUCTURE analysis showed that Halla horses were between Thoroughbred and Jeju horses, tend to more influenced by Thoroughbred horses. Therefore, these results could be considered for use as the basic genetic breed relationships resource among the horse breeds (Jeju, Mongolian, and Thoroughbred horses) related to the origins of the Halla horse.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2004

To investigate genetic features and the allele distribution of transferrin gene in three Cheju horse groups (group I, 137 horses of Jeju institute; group II, 107 horses of farms; group III, 89 racing horses) and three foreign breeds(l03 Thoroughbred, 10 Mongolian and 5 American Quarter horses), transferrin gene exons 13, 15, and 16 were analyzed by SSCP. The allele frequencies of transferrin gene of these groups and breeds were used to calculate genetic distances and to test population differentiations. The Fst values were 0.067 between Cheju horse groups I and II, 0.070 between Cheju horse groups I and group III, 0.091 between Cheju horse group I and Mongolian breed, and 0.189 between Cheju horse group I and Thoroughbred breed. Cheju horse group I showed significant population differentiation from other two Cheju horse groups and three foreign breeds while Cheju horse group III showed significant population differentiation only from Cheju horse group I and Thoroughbred breed(p <0.05). Results indicate that three Cheju horse groups showed population differentiation between each other, suggesting genetic heterogeneity of Cheju horses.