Cameroon Blackbelly sheep are a domestic breed of hair sheep from West/Central Africa. They are popular with small‐holder farmers in Cameroon as they are highly resilient to local environmental challenges and are prolific a‐seasonal breeders. The aim of this study was to characterise the genetics of Cameroon Blackbelly sheep in relation to global sheep populations and to investigate their relationship to Caribbean hair sheep....

Genes within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are the most variable identified in vertebrates. Pathogen‐mediated selection is believed to be the main force maintaining MHC diversity. However, relatively few studies have demonstrated contemporary selection on MHC genes. Here, we examine associations between MHC variation and several fitness measurements including total fitness and five fitness components, in 3400 wild...

Pathogen‐mediated selection (PMS) is thought to maintain the high level of allelic diversity observed in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II genes. A comprehensive way to demonstrate contemporary selection is to examine associations between MHC variation and individual fitness. As individual fitness is hard to measure, many studies examine associations between MHC variation and phenotypic traits, including dire...