Assessment of genetic diversity and genetic relationships of farm and laboratory quail populations in Japan using microsatellite DNA markers

Abstract

Background The Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) is an important poultry species owing to their high economic efficiency and biological advantages. The genetic diversity of farm quail populations has rarely been studied. Objectives This study aimed to assess the genetic diversity of farm quail populations and their genetic relationships, which could provide important information for designing breeding programmes to maintain egg and/or meat production efficiency. Methods Molecular phylogenetic and STRUCTURE analyses were conducted for seven farm populations and six laboratory lines using 50 microsatellite markers previously developed by us. Results The genetic diversity within each farm population was relatively high despite long‐term breeding within closed colonies. However, the genetic variation between populations was absent. Twenty highly polymorphic markers, selected based on Ne, He and FST values, enabled the construction of reliable phylogenetic trees and STRUCTURE plots. Conclusions In the farm populations analysed in the present study, gene flow between genetically distant populations is needed to restore genetic diversity between farm populations, which could exploit heterosis and decrease the risk of inbreeding depression. Our findings demonstrate that these markers are useful for examining the genetic structure of farm quail populations.

Dispersal history of Miniopterus fuliginosus bats and their associated viruses in east Asia

“…ferrumequinum . To overcome these limitations, indirect population genetic methods including gene flow determination and genetic diversity analysis among populations have been used to evaluate movement patterns of animals [ 48 – 50 ].…”

Assessment of variations in productive performance of two different plumage color varieties of Japanese quail and their reciprocal crosses

“…Accordingly, quail varieties are divided into meat-producing, egg-producing, or dual-purpose quails (Ibrahim et al 2021 ). Because of the close breeding within the same population, the Japanese quail is very susceptible to inbreeding depression, so crossbreeding between the distant quail varieties is effective to restore the genetic diversity in quail populations (Nunome et al 2020 ). Consequently, it is crucial to assess the physiological and genetic variations among these varieties to establish efficient breeding strategies to improve their production by providing the needed information about the most effective genotypes (Dávila et al 2009 ).…”

“…Microsatellite markers or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are good genetic markers that can be effectively used to study the genetic variance within or among breeds (Nunome et al 2020 ). They are characterized by the presence of 1–6 base repeats in the eukaryotic genome including birds (Kayang et al 2000 ), abundant polymorphism, codominance inheritance, and easy scoring by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (Kayang et al 2002 ).…”

Genetic and phenotypic variations of Productive Performance of two different plumage-color strains of Japanese quail

“…Accordingly, quail varieties are divided into meat producing, egg producing, or dual-purpose quails [4]. Because of the close breeding within the same population, Japanese quail is very susceptible to inbreeding depression, so crossbreeding between the distant quail varieties is effective to restore the genetic diversity in quail populations [5]. Consequently, it is crucial to assess the physiological and genetic variations among these varieties to establish e cient breeding strategies to improve its production through providing the needed information about the most effective genotypes [6].…”

“…Microsatellite markers or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are good genetic markers that can be effectively used to study the genetic variance within or among breeds [5]. They are characterized by presence of 1-6 bases repeats in the eukaryotic genome including birds [7], abundant polymorphism, codominance inheritance and the easy scoring by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) [8].…”