Candidate functional variants in TBXT, HOXB13, and PDGFD associated with tail morphology in Chinese sheep for marker-assisted selection

High-depth whole-genome resequencing of 23 Chinese sheep breeds reveals the genetic architecture underlying tail phenotypic variation. 2. Canonical missense variants in TBXT , HOXB13 , and PDGFD are associated with tail morphology, tail length, and posterior fat deposition, respectively. 3. Functional validation demonstrates a dual regulatory role of PDGFD in coordinating cell proliferation, migration, and adipogenic differentiation.