Abstract

A complete linkage disequilibrium between the SNP (SNP B) in BCDO2 gene and the yellow skin phenotype in European domestic chicken has been reported. Here, we genotyped the reported SNPs (SNP A, SNP B, and SNP C) of the BCDO2 gene in 183 Chinese Indigenous chickens from 11 breeds/populations, including 57 yellow, 17 white, and 109 black skin chickens. The frequency of all three SNPs were significantly different between yellow and white skin chickens (p<0.01). In black skin chickens, a high frequency of the heterozygous genotype (AG) in SNP A (0.51) and SNP B (0.48) was observed. A total of three haplotypes (AAA, AGA, and GAA) from these three SNPs were obtained. Frequencies of the proposed yellow skin-associated haplotype AGA in yellow skin, white skin, and black skin chickens were 0.81, 0.35, and 0.56, respectively. The results showed that the yellow skin phenotype of the evaluated birds has not been under selection, and that the BCDO2 gene in black skin chickens, evolutionally may undergo a transition phase from yellow to white skin chicken. We concluded that, the SNPs of BCDO2 gene not only can be used to determine whether the chicken was subjected to selection, but may also be used as a marker when selecting for the preferred skin color in chicken breeding programs.

Highlights

  • The skin color of chicken is an important phenotype, and may influence consumers’ decision

  • We identified the distribution of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (A, B, C) of the BCDO2 gene in Chinese indigenous chickens presenting three skin colors based on the study of Eriksson et al (2008)

  • The frequency distribution of three SNPs significantly differed among the three skin colors

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Summary

Introduction

The skin color of chicken is an important phenotype, and may influence consumers’ decision. Chickens with the yellow skin phenotype are widely preferred in USA, Mexico, and China. It is one of the first traits in animals described to exhibit Mendelian inheritance, and it is caused by one or more cis-acting and tissue-specific regulatory mutations that inhibit expression of β-carotene dioxygenase 2 (BCDO2) in the skin (Eriksson et al, 2008). The β-carotene dioxygenase 2 gene (BCDO2), located in chromosome 24, has been proposed as a candidate gene for the yellow skin phenotype in chickens (Schmid et al, 2000), and was validated by Yang et al, (2012). In addition to skin color in chickens, the BCDO2 gene was reported to play important roles in carotenoid metabolism in different farm animals, such as cattle and sheep.

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