Genetic architecture of bone quality variation in layer chickens revealed by a genome-wide association study

Abstract

Skeletal problems in layer chickens are gaining attention due to animal welfare and economic losses in the egg industry. The genetic improvement of bone traits has been proposed as a potential solution to these issues; however, genetic architecture is not well understood. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on bone quality using a sample of 1534 hens genotyped with a 600 K Chicken Genotyping Array. Using a linear mixed model approach, a novel locus close to GSG1L, associated with femur bone mineral density (BMD), was uncovered in this study. In addition, nine SNPs in genes were associated with bone quality. Three of these genes, RANKL, ADAMTS and SOST, were known to be associated with osteoporosis in humans, which makes them good candidate genes for osteoporosis in chickens. Genomic partitioning analysis supports the fact that common variants contribute to the variations of bone quality. We have identified several strong candidate genes and genomic regions associated with bone traits measured in end-of-lay cage layers, which accounted for 1.3–7.7% of the phenotypic variance. These SNPs could provide the relevant information to help elucidate which genes affect bone quality in chicken.

Genome-wide association studies targeting the yield of extraembryonic fluid and production traits in Russian White chickens

“…Previous studies showed a suggestive association of BW with a single SNP on GGA4 [41, 42]. The SNP detected in our investigation was in the LCORL gene, polymorphisms in which are linked with measures of skeletal frame size and adult height.…”

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for loin muscle area and loin muscle depth in two Duroc pig populations

“…Furthermore, the GCTA tool was used to calculate the phenotypic variance explained by each suggestive or significant SNP, which was detected by single-trait GWAS. Notably, the fixed effects including the first five PCA eigenvectors, sex and live weight were embedded as covariates to adjust the population stratification and latent relatedness[42].…”

Indústria do Ovo: qual é o significado e uso dessa expressão?

“…Destaca-se que os documentos abordam assuntos variados, por exemplo, recomendações sobre construções e equipamentos para unidades produtoras de ovos que possibilitem a expansão da atividade (Neyeloff et al, 1979). Também há a engenharia genética e sua utilização como ferramenta para solução de problemas ósseos das aves de postura (Guo et al, 2017) e as técnicas e equipamentos para detecção dos ovos férteis e fecundos de galinhas e patas (Valdez et al, 2017;Fasenko, 2007;Lawrence et al, 2006). O crescimento da indústria processadora de ovos motivou estudos acerca da tecnologia de descontaminação de ovos cozidos por UV pulsado, sendo considerada uma técnica eficaz para esterilização superficial de ovos cozidos.…”