Comparative Genome and Transcriptome Integration Studies Reveal the Mechanism of Pectoral Muscle Development and Function in Pigeons.

Haobin Hou,Yingying Tu,Changsuo Yang,Aodungerile Bao,Junfeng Yao,Weixing Ding,Xia Cai,Weimin Zhao,Wenwei Lv,Xiaoliang Wang,Quanli Wu

doi:10.3389/fgene.2021.735795

Abstract

Pigeon breed resources provide a genetic model for the study of phenomics. The pectoral muscles play a key role for the meat production performance of the meat pigeon and the athletic ability of the High flyers. Euro-pigeons and Silver King pigeons are commercial varieties that exhibit good meat production performance. In contrast to the domestication direction of meat pigeons, the traditional Chinese ornamental pigeon breed, High flyers, has a small and light body. Here, we investigate the molecular mechanism of the pectoral muscle development and function of pigeons using whole-genome and RNA sequencing data. The selective sweep analysis (F ST and log2 (θπ ratio)) revealed 293 and 403 positive selection genes in Euro-pigeons and Silver King, respectively, of which 65 genes were shared. With the Silver King and Euro-pigeon as the control group, the High flyers were selected for 427 and 566 genes respectively. There were 673 differentially expressed genes in the breast muscle transcriptome between the commercial meat pigeons and ornamental pigeons. Pigeon genome selection signal combined with the breast muscle transcriptome revealed that six genes (SLC16A10, S100B, SYNE1, HECW2, CASQ2 and LOC110363470) from commercial varieties of pigeons and five genes (INSC, CALCB, ZBTB21, B2M and LOC110356506) from Chinese traditional ornamental pigeons were positively selected which were involved in pathways related to muscle development and function. This study provides new insights into the selection of different directions and the genetic mechanism related to muscle development in pigeons.

Highlights

Archaeological evidence indicates that pigeons were historically consumed as food for thousands of years (Blasco et al, 2014) and represented an important protein source for humans
This study revealed the selection of genome regions between commercial meat pigeons and Chinese traditional ornamental pigeons using genomics analyses
The results of transcriptome sequencing and differential expression analysis revealed the molecular mechanism of breast muscle phenotypic differences between commercial meat pigeons and Chinese traditional ornamental pigeons

Summary

Introduction

Archaeological evidence indicates that pigeons were historically consumed as food for thousands of years (Blasco et al, 2014) and represented an important protein source for humans. After nearly 40 years of development, the number of pigeons in stock, out of stock, and the total production of pigeons ranked in China first in the world. Industry Development Report, there were 256,000 pairs of grandparent breeding pigeons, 41.2 million pairs of parent breeding pigeons, an increase of 5% over 2017, and an annual production of 643 million squabs (China Animal Agriculture Association, 2018). The largest pigeon can reach 1,000 g and small pigeons can reach to 250 g, which is nearly a four-fold difference in body mass (Stringham et al, 2012). In contrast to meat pigeons, some performance and carrier pigeons are selected for athletic capability, and these pigeons are generally highly adept at flying. High flying pigeons are more famous for their high altitude flying and have important ornamental traits

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