[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-442395-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-442395-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","functional-analysis-of-the-fgf2-gene-in-horn-development-in-sheep-and-identification-of-key-regulatory-variants","Functional analysis of the FGF2 gene in horn development in sheep and identification of key regulatory variants","","Horns are a breed-specific trait in sheep with potential safety risks under intensive housing, making understanding horn formation mechanisms valuable for breeding polled varieties. This study examines how the Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 (FGF2) gene regulates horn development using integrated multi-omics. RNA-seq expression profiling, WGS-based variant discovery in 99 sheep, epigenomic integration, and allele-specific expression (ASE) analysis identify FGF2 activity linked to horn traits.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/functional-analysis-of-the-fgf2-gene-in-horn-development-in-sheep-and-identification-of-key-regulatory-variants/442395/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/functional-analysis-of-the-fgf2-gene-in-horn-development-in-sheep-and-identification-of-key-regulatory-variants/442395.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Blitz","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-30","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":22},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What is the main goal of the study on FGF2 and sheep horn development?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"To uncover the regulatory mechanism by which the FGF2 gene influences horn development in sheep and to identify key regulatory variants linked to horn traits.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"Which data types were integrated to analyze FGF2 regulation?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The study combines RNA-seq for tissue expression and allele-specific expression, whole-genome sequencing for candidate functional variants, epigenomic data for regulatory elements, and phenotypic horn length data with KASP genotyping.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What genetic marker and regulatory context were identified for horn length?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"A SNP at chr17:35071069 is significantly associated with horn length, and epigenomic integration places this SNP within an enhancer regulatory region.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},442395,1790764114,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,95,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":22,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Liu et al. BMC Genomics (2026) 27:4 BMC Genomics  \n[https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-12309-y](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-12309-y)  \nRESEARCH Open Access  \nFunctional analysis of the FGF2 gene in horn development in sheep and identification of key regulatory variants  \nFei Liu 1,2,3, Hao Li2,3, Zhu Meng2,3, Shiwen Zhang2,3, Huaiqiang Yang2,3, Yangshuo Hu2,3, Renzeng Ciwang4, Jianning He 1* and Zhangyuan Pan 1,2,3*  \nAbstract  \nBackground Horns are an important breed-specific trait in sheep; however, under intensive housing conditions, they pose potential safety risks during management. Understanding the developmental mechanisms of horn formation has significant application value for breeding polled sheep varieties.  \nResults This study investigates the regulatory mechanism of horn development mediated by the Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 (FGF2) gene, which plays a key role in skin formation, using integrated multi-omics approaches. First, we analyzed the tissue-specific expression of the FGF2 gene using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data. Then, based on whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data from 99 sheep, we identified potential functional variants in the FGF2 gene. Additionally, we integrated epigenomic data to identify regulatory elements associated with FGF2, and finally investigated allele-specific expression (ASE) of this gene. The results showed that FGF2 was specifically expressed in horn and skin tissues, with significantly higher expression levels in large-horned sheep compared to small-horned sheep (P \u003C 0. 05) . Cross-species protein sequence alignment revealed a species-specific amino acid variant between sheep and Bighorn sheep, suggesting a potential role in horn morphology regulation. Population genetic analysis of the WGS data identified 20 potential functional variants related to horn development, as determined by fixation index (Fst) screening. Combined with horn length phenotypic data and Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR (KASP) genotyping, we identified a SNP at chr17:35071069 that is significantly associated with horn length. Integration with epigenomic data revealed that this SNP is located within an enhancer regulatory region. Finally, three allele-specific expression sites were identified from the RNA-seq data.  \nConclusion In summary, this study suggests that the FGF2 gene may influence horn development in sheep by modulating enhancer activity. The identified SNP and ASE sites provide valuable molecular markers for breeding polled sheep varieties.  \nKeywords FGF2, Sheep horn, Tissue-specific, Regulatory element, Allele-specific expressions  \n*Correspondence: Jianning He [hexingxing104@163.com](hexingxing104@163.com)[ ](hexingxing104@163.com)Zhangyuan Pan [zhypan01@163.com](zhypan01@163.com)  \n1College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China  \n2State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China 3National Nanfan Research Institute (Sanya), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sanya 572024, China  \n4Institute of Animal Science, Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Lhasa 850009, China  \n© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creati","cbCaiaGU1mlq1MTM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaGU1mlq1MTM","pdf",6450666,14,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Horn development and breeding relevance\n## FGF2 gene background and genomic context\n# Results\n## Tissue-specific expression of FGF2\n## Functional variant discovery from WGS\n## Epigenomic regulatory elements and SNP association\n## Allele-specific expression sites\n# Conclusion","[{\"question\":\"What is the main goal of the study on FGF2 and sheep horn development?\",\"answer\":\"To uncover the regulatory mechanism by which the FGF2 gene influences horn development in sheep and to identify key regulatory variants linked to horn traits.\"},{\"question\":\"Which data types were integrated to analyze FGF2 regulation?\",\"answer\":\"The study combines RNA-seq for tissue expression and allele-specific expression, whole-genome sequencing for candidate functional variants, epigenomic data for regulatory elements, and phenotypic horn length data with KASP genotyping.\"},{\"question\":\"What genetic marker and regulatory context were identified for horn length?\",\"answer\":\"A SNP at chr17:35071069 is significantly associated with horn length, and epigenomic integration places this SNP within an enhancer regulatory region.\"}]","Functional analysis of the FGF2 gene in horn development in sheep and identification of key regulatory variants | PDF",1790700155,35]