Have had Belclare ancestry. In order to reduce the likelihood of this explanation those animals that could only be described as Suffolk-x were disregarded, both on the basis of the limited information on breed composition but also on the basis of follow-up discussions with the owners 1379592 and taking into account the geographical location of the Title Loaded From File flocks concerned (when combined with knowledge that Belclare-cross animals were likely to be local to the region involved). The latter consideration was informed by the pattern of distribution of rams either released from the Teagasc flock in the early stages of onfarm testing of the Belclare breed, or as areas into which Belclare breeders commonly sold rams. Based on these constraints, only two of the five cases involving the FecXB mutation merited further consideration. Of these, ewe E2170616:10 is the most compelling case given its location and the information on ancestry provided; Table 3. Estimates of gene frequency for mutations in GDF9 and BMP15 in a sample of 333 Lleyn rams representing 140 flocks in Britain and Ireland in 2009.GeneMutationFrequency ( ) of mutation Estimate 95 Confidence interval{ 0.7 to 2.{GDFFecGH FecXG1.7 (3.1)(1.5 to 5.6) 0.6 to 3.BMP{ {2.Based on variation among 10 000 bootstrap samples. Incidence of carrier animals. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053172.tthe flock involved was very small and the dam of ewe E2170616:10 had produced quadruplets while the grandmother (described as a Milford ewe) had produced quintuplets (in 1994). No rams with Belclare ancestry were used on this farm and the flock owner was clear that the grandmother, which was purchased, had Scottish Blackface and Leicester ancestry. While there is no authoritative definition of what constitutes a Milford ewe, expert opinion in Donegal indicates that the term is used locally to describe crossbred ewes with Scottish Blackface and lowland-breed ancestry. The possibility that FecXB may be segregating in the Scottish Blackface breed should be considered, and warrants further investigation. The background evidence on ewe H2351074:5 is somewhat less certain; she was by a Texel ram out of a Texel 6 Cheviot homebred ewe from a small set of Cheviot ewes that her owner maintained. The owner was adamant that he never had a Belclare ram. It is known, however, that one breeder of Belclare sheep regularly sold rams into a contiguous region of Co. Kerry during the 1990s. It seems reasonable to conclude that ewe E2170616:10 carried a copy of the FecXB mutation that was not derived from the Belclare breed and it is arguable that the same is true of ewe H2351074:5. Although genotyping of High Fertility line was not possible as the line was incorporated into the Belclare breed, the evidence from the HP ewes identified for the present study suggests that the FecXB mutation was present in the set of prolific ewes assembled during the 1960s for the formation of the High Fertility line. This conclusion is supported by the fact that Hanrahan [26] noted the occurrence of ewes in the High Fertility line with `abnormalities of the ovaries or uterus’ among a set of ewes that had failed to lamb over three Title Loaded From File annual joinings. The abnormal ovaries can be equated, in retrospect, with the sterility phenotype found in homozygous carriers of either the BMP15 or GDF9 mutations as reported by Hanrahan et al. [14]. While the FecXG mutation was identified in one HP ewe it is argued that this case should be ignored because of the limited information on.Have had Belclare ancestry. In order to reduce the likelihood of this explanation those animals that could only be described as Suffolk-x were disregarded, both on the basis of the limited information on breed composition but also on the basis of follow-up discussions with the owners 1379592 and taking into account the geographical location of the flocks concerned (when combined with knowledge that Belclare-cross animals were likely to be local to the region involved). The latter consideration was informed by the pattern of distribution of rams either released from the Teagasc flock in the early stages of onfarm testing of the Belclare breed, or as areas into which Belclare breeders commonly sold rams. Based on these constraints, only two of the five cases involving the FecXB mutation merited further consideration. Of these, ewe E2170616:10 is the most compelling case given its location and the information on ancestry provided; Table 3. Estimates of gene frequency for mutations in GDF9 and BMP15 in a sample of 333 Lleyn rams representing 140 flocks in Britain and Ireland in 2009.GeneMutationFrequency ( ) of mutation Estimate 95 Confidence interval{ 0.7 to 2.{GDFFecGH FecXG1.7 (3.1)(1.5 to 5.6) 0.6 to 3.BMP{ {2.Based on variation among 10 000 bootstrap samples. Incidence of carrier animals. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053172.tthe flock involved was very small and the dam of ewe E2170616:10 had produced quadruplets while the grandmother (described as a Milford ewe) had produced quintuplets (in 1994). No rams with Belclare ancestry were used on this farm and the flock owner was clear that the grandmother, which was purchased, had Scottish Blackface and Leicester ancestry. While there is no authoritative definition of what constitutes a Milford ewe, expert opinion in Donegal indicates that the term is used locally to describe crossbred ewes with Scottish Blackface and lowland-breed ancestry. The possibility that FecXB may be segregating in the Scottish Blackface breed should be considered, and warrants further investigation. The background evidence on ewe H2351074:5 is somewhat less certain; she was by a Texel ram out of a Texel 6 Cheviot homebred ewe from a small set of Cheviot ewes that her owner maintained. The owner was adamant that he never had a Belclare ram. It is known, however, that one breeder of Belclare sheep regularly sold rams into a contiguous region of Co. Kerry during the 1990s. It seems reasonable to conclude that ewe E2170616:10 carried a copy of the FecXB mutation that was not derived from the Belclare breed and it is arguable that the same is true of ewe H2351074:5. Although genotyping of High Fertility line was not possible as the line was incorporated into the Belclare breed, the evidence from the HP ewes identified for the present study suggests that the FecXB mutation was present in the set of prolific ewes assembled during the 1960s for the formation of the High Fertility line. This conclusion is supported by the fact that Hanrahan [26] noted the occurrence of ewes in the High Fertility line with `abnormalities of the ovaries or uterus’ among a set of ewes that had failed to lamb over three annual joinings. The abnormal ovaries can be equated, in retrospect, with the sterility phenotype found in homozygous carriers of either the BMP15 or GDF9 mutations as reported by Hanrahan et al. [14]. While the FecXG mutation was identified in one HP ewe it is argued that this case should be ignored because of the limited information on.