{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T16:12:22Z","timestamp":1787069542112,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,24]],"date-time":"2022-06-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656028800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Maedi-visna (MV) is a disease caused by small ruminant lentiviruses. It is included in the list of notifiable terrestrial animal diseases due to economic losses and animal welfare harm in the sheep sector. To date, control programs remain the onliest approach to avoiding infection. The allelic variant p.Glu35Lys (E35K) of the TMEM154 gene has been strongly associated with host vulnerability to MV illness. The present study aimed to investigate the association of TMEM154 E35K allele frequencies with MV susceptibility in native Sicilian sheep breeds. More than 400 animals from 14 local sheep were serologically tested and genotyped for the TMEM154 E35K polymorphism. The local breeds displayed different values of MV seroprevalence, with the lowest antibody prevalence in Barbaresca and Pinzirita breeds. TMEM154 protective allele (K35) was less frequent than the risk allele (E35) in Valle del Bel\u00ecce breed, whereas the other three breeds showed a more balanced alleles distribution. A positive association between seroprevalence and genotype was found in the entire sample set. The risk of infection resulted in more than 3-fold times as high in sheep with EK and EE genotype compared to the KK genotype. Our data could be helpful in establishing selection breeding programs aimed at reducing MV infection in Sicilian sheep farming and encouraging the breeding of native breeds.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani12131630","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,25]],"date-time":"2022-06-25T10:39:13Z","timestamp":1656153553000},"page":"1630","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Alternative Molecular Tools for the Fight against Infectious Diseases of Small Ruminants: Native Sicilian Sheep Breeds and Maedi-Visna Genetic Susceptibility"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8221-2490","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Serena","family":"Tumino","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6043-9782","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marco","family":"Tolone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1766-5327","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paola","family":"Galluzzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"OIE Reference Laboratory for Contagious Agalactia, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia, 90129 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6685-7109","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sergio","family":"Migliore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"OIE Reference Laboratory for Contagious Agalactia, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia, 90129 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tiziana","family":"Sechi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Genetics and Biotechnology\u2013Agris Sardegna, 07040 Olmedo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8723-9457","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Salvatore","family":"Bordonaro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3461-3353","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberto","family":"Puleio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"OIE Reference Laboratory for Contagious Agalactia, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia, 90129 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonello","family":"Carta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Genetics and Biotechnology\u2013Agris Sardegna, 07040 Olmedo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guido Ruggero","family":"Loria","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"OIE Reference Laboratory for Contagious Agalactia, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia, 90129 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kalogianni, A.I., Bossis, I., Ekateriniadou, L.V., and Gelasakis, A.I. 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