Investigating expression of IGF-1 candidate gene for growth-associated microsatellite genotypes in a resource population of RIR chicken

Abstract

Present study was undertaken to analyze relative expression of IGF-1 gene in liver and breast muscle, and to investigate probable association of chicken growth-linked microsatellite genotypes with IGF-1 gene expression in a resource population of RIR chicken. In this experiment, 114 birds of combined sexes were screened for growth-associated microsatellite genotypes and 25 alleles were separated through 3.4% MetaPhore agarose gel electrophoresis with their sizes ranging from 97 bp at MCW0010 to 349 bp at LEI0071. Twelve birds of either sexes comprising equally from these birds were selected at the age of 12 weeks for gene expression study by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR method. Higher 40-ΔCt value was considered as higher expression. Least squares analysis of variance revealed that birds’ hatch factor had significant effect on relative mRNA expression of IGF-1 gene in liver tissue other than breast muscle. Birds from the second hatch showed higher expression (35.86±1.120) in liver tissue in comparison to the chicks from first hatch (32.58±0.792). The results also evidenced that the liver tissue had higher expression (34.22±0.690) than that in the breast muscle (33.923±0.186) tissue. The males had numerically higher expressions in both the tissues as compared to female birds. The microsatellites could not demonstrate significant genotypic differences in IGF-1 gene expression in liver and breast muscle tissues of the birds. It is suggested to study a large sample to investigate significant variation in IGF-1 gene expression in the birds under different sexes and growth-linked microsatellite genotypes to draw a valid conclusion.