Whole-genome variant of 220 Tibetan sheep from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The ancient Tibetan sheep breed has been shaped by long-term natural selection and artificial breeding in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region. Although their green organic mutton is highly favored by consumers, the low production efficiency of Tibetan sheep has resulted in a persistent supply shortage. Whole-genome sequencing analysis can identify genetic markers and candidate genes associated with important economic traits, which can be used in genomic-assisted breeding to accelerate genetic improvement and increase production efficiency. Here, we report whole-genome sequencing data from 220 Tibetan sheep across 11 populations inhabiting different altitudes, with an average coverage of 6.20X. Over 98.34% of clean reads were successfully mapped to the Tibetan sheep reference genome, identifying approximately 21.10 million high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms. This dataset provides a valuable resource for studying the genetic diversity and adaptability of Tibetan sheep, and may accelerate improvements in genetic traits.