{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]],"date-time":"2026-04-08T23:32:45Z","timestamp":1775691165539,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,10]],"date-time":"2020-03-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1583798400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Discipline construction fund project of Gansu Agricultural University","award":["Grant No. GAU-XKJS-2018-023"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Grant No. GAU-XKJS-2018-023"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The luteinizing hormone beta polypeptide (LH\u03b2) is a glycoprotein hormone secreted by basophilic granular cells of the adenohypophysis, and plays an important role in mammalian follicular development. In this study, we cloned and analyzed the cDNA sequence of the ovine LH\u03b2 gene. RT-qPCR analysis showed that ovine LH\u03b2 was widely expressed in tissues, with significantly higher expression in the hypophysis than that in other tissues (heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, rumen, duodenum, muscle, fat, hypothalamus, and sex glands) (p &lt; 0.01). Hypophyseal expression of LH\u03b2 mRNA in lamb increased with age and reached a peak at 70 days, although a slight decrease was observed at 84 days of age. In addition, the synonymous mutation g.727C &gt; T detected in the LH\u03b2 gene was confirmed to be significantly associated with the litter size (p &lt; 0.01). Ewes carrying the TT genotype produced more lambs than those carrying the TC and CC genotypes (0.42 and 0.39 per delivery, respectively; p &lt; 0.05). Our results confirm the association of ovine LH\u03b2 with litter size in Small-Tailed Han Sheep and implicate LH\u03b2 as a candidate for improving reproductive traits in agricultural sheep breeding programs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani10030460","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,10]],"date-time":"2020-03-10T11:59:36Z","timestamp":1583841576000},"page":"460","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Molecular Characterization and Expression Profiles of the Ovine LH\u03b2 Gene and Its Association with Litter Size in Chinese Indigenous Small-Tailed Han Sheep"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Weimin","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yongfu","family":"La","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fadi","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China"},{"name":"Engineering Laboratory of Sheep Breeding and Reproduction Biotechnology in Gansu Province, Minqin 730020, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shijia","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6841-7652","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiangyu","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3802-1507","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiaoxue","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"177","DOI":"10.1210\/edrv-11-1-177","article-title":"Molecular biology of the pituitary gonadotropins","volume":"11","author":"Gharib","year":"1990","journal-title":"Endocr. 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