Abstract
Abdominal fat characters are complex and economically important in the poultry industry. Their selection may benefit from the implementation of marker-assisted selection (MAS). The objective of this study was to identify the markers linked to QTL responsible for fatness traits. The Northeast Agricultural University broiler lines divergently selected for abdominal fat content (NEAUHLF) were used in the study. A total of 596 individuals from the divergent tails from the 6th to the 10th generations were genotyped at 23 microsatellite markers on chromosome 1. The differences of allele frequencies of all marker alleles between the divergent tails across the five generations were recorded. The allele frequencies of five markers, including LEI0209, LEI0146, MCW0036, ADL328 and MCW0115, had significant differences between the two tails in all five generations. The resulting p-values using Fisher's exact test on eleven markers, containing MCW248, MCW0010, MCW0106, LEI0252, LEI0068, MCW0018, MCW0061, LEI0088, MCW200, MCW283 and ROS0025, had a decreasing tendency from the 6th to the 10th generation. Statistical analysis showed that polymorphisms of the eight markers, including LEI0209, LEI0146, ROS0025, MCW0115, MCW0010, MCW0036, MCW283, ADL328, were significantly (p<0.0011) or suggestively (p<0.05) associated with abdominal fat content (AFW and AFP) across generations. It is concluded that the eight markers could be associated with the QTL affecting the deposition of abdominal fat in broiler chickens.
Highlights
In addition to being a widely raised farm animal in agriculture, chicken serve as an excellent animal model in genetic selection/evolution research
Birds of plasma very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) concentration and abdominal fat percentage (AFP) lower than the population average mean value were selected as candidates of breeders, considering the body weight of male birds and egg production of female birds, 25 families were established to produce offspring of generation
We found that genotype (G), the generations (g) and lines (L) as fixed significant or suggestive associations of all sixteen markers effects; Due to relatively small sample size for individual with Abdominal fat weight (AFW) and AFP were only detected in certain generation and many alleles at each locus, G×L as generation(s)
Summary
In addition to being a widely raised farm animal in agriculture, chicken serve as an excellent animal model in genetic selection/evolution research. The development of molecular biology techniques for uncovering variation at the DNA level has opened new avenues to identify genes affecting quantitative traits (Beckman and Soller, 1983; Haley and Knott, 1992; Lander and Kruglyak, 1995), in which molecular maker-assisted selection (MAS) acts as a promising tool to improve the trait progression through conventional means. Such phenotypic traits are doomed of low heritability, difficulty in observation, or highly-priced in cost (Dekkers and Hospital, 2002). The objective of the current study was to identify the markers linked to QTLs responsible for fatness traits by investigating the allelic distribution of microsatellite markers and evaluating association between markers and fatness traits in the two unique lines divergently selected for abdominal fat content
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