Mapping QTLs for Breast Muscle Weight in an F2 Intercross between Native Japanese Nagoya and White Plymouth Rock Chicken Breeds.

Akira Ishikawa,Bothaina H Essa,Sae Suzuki,Sherif M Nasr

doi:10.3390/life11080754

Akira Ishikawa, Bothaina H Essa + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/life11080754

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Abstract

Nagoya (NAG), a native Japanese chicken breed, has high quality meat but low meat yield, whereas White Plymouth Rock (WPR), a parental breed of commercial broilers, has rapid growth but high body fat. We previously reported three quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for early postnatal growth in 239 F2 chickens between NAG and WPR breeds. In this study, using the same F2 chickens at 4 weeks of age, we performed genome-wide QTL analysis for breast muscle weight, fat weight and serum and liver levels of biochemical parameters. Two significant QTLs for pectoralis minor and/or major weights were revealed on chromosome 2 between 108 Mb and 127 Mb and chromosome 4 between 10 Mb and 68 Mb. However, no QTL for the other traits was detected. The two QTLs explained 7.0–11.1% of the phenotypic variances, and their alleles derived from WPR increased muscle weights. The chromosome 2 QTL may be a novel locus, whereas the chromosome 4 QTL coincided with a known QTL for meat quality. The findings provide information that is beneficial for genetic improvement of meat yield for the lean NAG breed and, furthermore, provide a better understanding of the genetic basis of chicken muscle development.

Highlights

More than 8000 years ago, chickens were primarily domesticated from red junglefowls in East and Southeast Asia as a main resource of food and for other reasons including religious events, ceremonial events and sports [1,2]
We previously showed marked differences in body weight, growth rate, organ weight, fat weight and breast muscle weight at 7 weeks after hatching between the NAG breed and the White Plymouth Rock (WPR) breed, which has been used worldwide as a dam breed of common broiler chickens
This study revealed two QTLs affecting breast muscle weight and pectoralis minor percentage at 4 weeks of age on chicken chromosomes 2 and 4 in the F2 intercross population between NAG and WPR breeds

Summary

Introduction

More than 8000 years ago, chickens were primarily domesticated from red junglefowls in East and Southeast Asia as a main resource of food and for other reasons including religious events, ceremonial events and sports [1,2]. Intensive artificial selection in broiler chickens resulted in rapid improvements in body weight, growth rates and reduction in slaughter age. The selection has been accompanied by excessive subcutaneous and abdominal fat deposition. Modern broiler chickens contain 150–200 g fat per kg body weight, and approximately 85% of the fat has no economic value, and it is usually disposed of during the processing of broilers [7,8]. It is necessary to establish genetic improvement methods to minimize fat deposition as much as possible. The establishment of such methods will be of great value for broiler breeding programs

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