QTL mapping for two commercial traits in farmed saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus)

Abstract

The recent generation of a genetic linkage map for the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) has now made it possible to carry out the systematic searches necessary for the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting traits of economic, as well as evolutionary, importance in crocodilians. In this study, we conducted genome-wide scans for two commercially important traits, inventory head length (which is highly correlated with growth rate) and number of scale rows (SR, a skin quality trait), for the existence of QTL in a commercial population of saltwater crocodiles at Darwin Crocodile Farm, Northern Territory, Australia. To account for the uncommonly large difference in sex-specific recombination rates apparent in the saltwater crocodile, a duel mapping strategy was employed. This strategy employed a sib-pair analysis to take advantage of our full-sib pedigree structure, together with a half-sib analysis to account for, and take advantage of, the large difference in sex-specific recombination frequencies. Using these approaches, two putative QTL regions were identified for SR on linkage group 1 (LG1) at 36 cM, and on LG12 at 0 cM. The QTL identified in this investigation represent the first for a crocodilian and indeed for any non-avian member of the Class Reptilia. Mapping of QTL is an important first step towards the identification of genes and causal mutations for commercially important traits and the development of selection tools for implementation in crocodile breeding programmes for the industry.