Identification of quantitative trait loci affecting production and biochemical traits in a unique Japanese quail resource population

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to identify QTL associated with body weight, growth rate, egg quality traits, concentration of selected blood plasma, and yolk lipids as well as concentration of selected macro- and microelements, color, pH, basic chemical composition, and drip loss of breast muscle of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). Twenty-two meat-type males (line F33) were crossed with twenty-two laying-type females (line S22) to produce a generation of F1 hybrids. The F2 generation was created by mating 44 randomly chosen F1 hybrids, which were full siblings. The birds were individually weighed from the first to eighth week of age. At the age of 19 wk, 2 to 4 eggs were individually collected from each female and an analysis of the egg quality traits was performed. At slaughter, blood and breast muscles were collected from 324 individuals of the resource population. The basic chemical composition, concentration of chosen macro- and microelements, color, pH, and drip loss were determined in the muscle samples. The concentration of chosen lipids was determined in egg yolk and blood plasma. In total, 30 microsatellite markers located on chromosome 1 and 2 were genotyped. QTL mapping including additive and dominance genetic effects revealed 6 loci on chromosome 1 of the Japanese quail affecting the egg number, egg production rate, egg weight, specific gravity, egg shell weight, concentration of Na in breast muscle. In turn, there were 9 loci on chromosome 2 affecting the body weight in the first, fourth, and sixth week of age, growth rate in the second and seventh week of age, specific gravity, concentration of K and Cu in breast muscle, and the levels of triacylglycerols in blood plasma. In this study, QTL with a potential effect on the Na, K, and Cu content in breast muscles in poultry and on specific gravity in the Japanese quail were mapped for the first time.

Mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci Controlling Egg-Quality and -Production Traits in Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica) Using Restriction-Site Associated DNA Sequencing

“…The present study found a genome-wide significant QTL for EW at the first stage of egg-laying on chromosome 10 positioned at 21.0 cM. A QTL responsible for EW was reported on chromosome 1 at a position of 4 cM for the Japanese quail [ 31 ]. A previous study identified four QTL for the EW trait on chromosomes 1, 3, 18, and 18 positioned at 193, 156, 61, and 62 cM, respectively [ 51 ].…”

“…Therefore, a high rate of contiguity, assembly statistics, gene content, chromosomal organization, and synteny conservation exists between the two species [ 42 , 80 ]. Knaga et al [ 31 ] reported QTL for the egg number and egg production rate at positions 36 to 42 cM on chromosome 1 using 30 microsatellite markers. Minvielle et al [ 52 ] reported QTL for egg number and age at first egg positioned at 32 and 34 cM, respectively, on chromosome 6.…”

“…Compared with chickens, few studies have performed QTL analysis on the Japanese quail, and the genome of this species has been poorly explored [ 31 ]. The first studies reported on the genetic and QTL analyses of the Japanese quail involved the identification of panels of markers [ 32 , 33 ], construction of genetic maps using AFLP [ 34 ] and microsatellite [ 35 ], complete sequencing of the mitochondrial genome [ 36 ], detection of QTL for growth-performance and meat-quality traits [ 37 ], determination of egg-laying curve [ 38 ], and analyses of carcass traits, internal organs [ 39 ], and fearfulness-related traits [ 6 , 40 ].…”

“…On the contrary, few studies have reported the QTL responsible for egg-related traits in the Japanese quail. Knaga et al [ 31 ] revealed four QTL on chromosome 1 that affect egg number, egg production rate, egg weight, and egg shell weight. Recoquillay et al [ 51 ] found four QTL for the mean egg weight located on chromosomes 1, 3, and 18, two QTL for the number of eggs laid positioned on chromosomes 3 and 18, and two QTL for the age at first egg placed on chromosomes 3 and 19 in a study of medium-density genetic map and QTL analyses of the Japanese quail, in which egg weight as an egg-quality trait and two egg production traits were investigated.…”

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

“…Microsatellite markers for Japanese quail were developed comprehensively in previous studies (Kayang et al, 2000(Kayang et al, , 2002(Kayang et al, , 2004(Kayang et al, , 2006Mannen et al, 2005). They have been used to discover gene loci associated with plumage colour, body weight, meat quality and egg production (Minvielle et al, 2005(Minvielle et al, , 2006Miwa et al, 2005;Ori, Esmailizadeh, Charati, Mohammadabadi, & Sohrabi, 2014;Rezvannejad, Yaghoobi, & Rashki, 2014;Tavaniello et al, 2014;Moradian et al, 2016;Knaga et al, 2018); however, the chromosomal position of these markers had remained undetermined. We recently developed more than 100 microsatellite DNA markers from Japanese quail based on the whole-genome sequence, covering chromosomes 1 to 28 and the Z and W sex chromosomes (Kawahara-Miki et al, 2013).…”