| Summary: | The luteinizing hormone beta polypeptide (LHβ) is a glycoprotein hormone secreted by basophilic granular cells of the adenohypophysis, and plays an important role in mammalian follicular development. In this study, we cloned and analyzed the cDNA sequence of the ovine <i>LHβ</i> gene. RT-qPCR analysis showed that ovine <i>LHβ</i> was widely expressed in tissues, with significantly higher expression in the hypophysis than that in other tissues (heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, rumen, duodenum, muscle, fat, hypothalamus, and sex glands) (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Hypophyseal expression of <i>LHβ</i> mRNA in lamb increased with age and reached a peak at 70 days, although a slight decrease was observed at 84 days of age. In addition, the synonymous mutation g.727C > T detected in the <i>LHβ</i> gene was confirmed to be significantly associated with the litter size (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Ewes carrying the <i>TT</i> genotype produced more lambs than those carrying the <i>TC</i> and <i>CC</i> genotypes (0.42 and 0.39 per delivery, respectively; <i>p</i> < 0.05). Our results confirm the association of ovine <i>LHβ</i> with litter size in Small-Tailed Han Sheep and implicate <i>LHβ</i> as a candidate for improving reproductive traits in agricultural sheep breeding programs.
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