سجل مستودعي · ncbi-prjna1432524

Najdi sheep T2T genome assembly

The Najdi sheep (Ovis aries) is an indigenous breed native to the Najd plateau of the Arabian Peninsula, adapted over centuries to extreme heat, drought, and nutritional scarcity. These conditions have shaped a genetically distinct lineage with traits such as thermoregulatory efficiency, water retention, nutritional stress tolerance, and regional disease resilience. The breed is valued for meat and milk production and holds significant cultural and economic importance across Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region.This project aims to generate a complete, telomere-to-telomere (T2T) reference genome assembly for the Najdi sheep. The assembly will support heat tolerance adaptation research, population genomics, and genomic selection in arid-region livestock.