A breakthrough has been made in the mining of goat characteristic genetic resources in China

Known as the "Third Pole of the Earth", the Tibetan Plateau has created its unique biodiversity
due to its extreme environment of cold, low oxygen, low pressure and strong ultraviolet rays.
Along with human migration and production activities, a group of domestic animals have gradually adapted to the harsh living environment of the plateau and become indispensable means
of production and subsistence for residents in Tibetan areas.
Analyzing the genetic mechanism of plateau livestock adaptation to extreme environments can not only reveal the interaction mechanism between plateau environment and genetic development, but also contribute to the mining, conservation and utilization of animal genetic resources on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and provide theoretical guidance
for the genetic improvement of plateau livestock.

Goats were one of the first domesticated domestic animals, successfully domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 11,000 years ago, and spread to all corners
of the world with human migration.
In the process, the goats adapt to diverse environmental conditions
everywhere.
Studies have shown that goats migrated to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau about 3,000-5,000 years ago, but how goats quickly adapt to the harsh natural environment of the plateau in a short period of time remains an unsolved mystery
.

Recently, Northwest A&F University cooperated with a number of partners to publish the title "Markhor-derived introgression of a genomic region encompassing PAPSS2 confers high-altitude adaptability in Tibetan goats" online in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution Research papers
.
The study reported a new selected gene PAPSS2 in the genome of Tibetan goats, and further analysis found that the gene originated from gene influx of a related species of goats in the Himalayas, an ancient gene infiltration event that helped goats quickly adapt to the harsh natural environment
of the plateau at an early stage.

Gene exchange is an important mechanism
for adaptive evolution and speciation in domestic animals.
The research team analyzed data from 331 genomes and 104 transcriptomes of domestic goats, wild goats and ancient goats at different altitudes around the world, and assembled a chromosome-level reference genome
of Tibetan goats using PacBio HiFi data.
After locating the key selected gene PAPSS2, the project team also used the CRISPR/Cas9 method to further verify the function of
the PAPSS2 gene in cells.
Using the largest goat genome data, the project team revealed that the PAPSS2 gene is not only the most significant gene for high-altitude adaptation of goats, but also the most significant gene in gene
infiltration analysis.
The analysis found that there was gene exchange between Tibetan goats and wild goats in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the haplotype of PAPSS2 gene of Tibetan goats was derived from C.
kudu goats (C.
falconeri), and this infiltration fragment occurs
only in high-altitude goats.
The kudu goat is a "national treasure" of Pakistan, and it is relatively abundant and is mainly found in and around
the Himalayas.
This study systematically evaluates the genetic resources of Tibetan goats at the genomic level, reveals the underlying genetic mechanism of goat plateau adaptation, further supports the important role of gene infiltration between wild relatives in the environmental adaptation of livestock, and is of great significance for the mining, protection and utilization and genetic improvement of
livestock genetic resources.

Professor Wang Xiaolong and Professor Jiang Yu of the College of Animal Science and Professor Jian-Lin Han of the International Livestock Research Institute are the corresponding authors
of the paper.
Li Chao, a doctoral student and Dr.
Guo Jiajiang, a researcher and graduate student from the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Tibet Academy of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Sciences, and Dr.
Guo Jia, Sichuan Agricultural University, were the first authors of
the paper.
The University of California, Santa Cruz, Mongolian University of Life Sciences, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Reclamation, Beijing Zoo and other institutions participated in the work
.
The research has been supported
by the National Key R&D Program of China, the Key R&D Program of Tibet Autonomous Region, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the CAAS-ILRI Joint Laboratory Fund and the high-performance computing platform of Northwest A&F University.