Small Ruminant Research 71 (2007) 158–164 QTL affecting fleece traits in Angora goats E.M. Cano a , G. Marrube c , D.L. Roldan a , F. Bidinost b , M. Abad b , D. Allain d , D. Vaiman e , H. Taddeo b , M.A. Poli a,∗ a INTA, Instituto de Gen´ etica, CICVyA, cc 25, 1712-Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina b INTA, Estaci´ on Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche, cc 277, 8400-San Carlos de Bariloche, R´ ıo Negro, Argentina c Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias U.B.A., Area de Gen´ etica, Av. Chorroar´ ın 280, 1427-Buenos Aires, Argentina d INRA, Station d’Am´ elioration G´ en´ etique des Animaux, BP27, 31326 Castanet Tolosan, France e Laboratoire de G´ en´ etique et ´ Epig´ en´ etique des Pathologies Placentaires, INSERM-U361, Pavillon Baudelocque, 123 Bd Port-Royal, 75014 Paris, France Received 8 March 2006; received in revised form 26 May 2006; accepted 6 June 2006 Available online 25 July 2006 Abstract With the aim to detect chromosome segment (quantitative traits loci, QTL) affecting fleece traits in Angora goats, a genome scan using 76 microsatellite markers spanning 1261 cM on 21 chromosomes was conducted. Eight paternal half-sib families were used, which included a total of 288 kids from a dispersed nucleus herd. Mid-side mohair samples were taken from kids at 4 months of age and eight phenotypic fleece traits were measured. We found putatives QTL for coefficient of variation of average fiber diameter (CVAFD) in chromosome 1 and 13, for kemp fiber (KEMP) in chromosome 5 and for discontinuous medullated fibers (DISC) and staple length (SL) in chromosome 2. These results demonstrate the segregation of quantitative traits involved in mohair production. Further studies will concentrate on these regions to characterize the variation of these QTL. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: QTL; Fleece traits; Angora goats; Microsatellites 1. Introduction In the last 10 years many livestock genetic genome maps were developed (Bishop et al., 1994; Rohrer et al., 1996; Crawford et al., 1992; Vaiman et al., 1996; Schibler et al., 1998; Maddox et al., 2001). Microsatellite markers from these maps are used to identify inheritance patterns of linked segments of the genome in structured pedigree populations ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +54 11 4621 3316/1683; fax: +54 11 44811316. E-mail address: mpoli@cnia.inta.gov.ar (M.A. Poli). (Georges et al., 1995). Associations of marker allele with the phenotype of interest indicate the presence of a quantitative traits loci (QTL). Detection of QTL is the first step towards the identification of genes and causal polymorphisms for traits of importance in agriculture (Seaton et al., 2002). Development of reasonably dense microsatellite linkage map for the caprine genome (Vaiman et al., 1996; Schibler et al., 1998) together with the development of efficient and robust linear regression methods to detect and mapping of QTL in simple and complex pedigrees (e.g. Haley and Knott, 1992; Haley et al., 1994; Knott et al., 1996, 1998; de Koning et al., 1998, 2001) have made possible the chromosomal location of loci influencing QTL. 0921-4488/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.smallrumres.2006.06.002