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Genetic architecture related to contour feathers density in an F2 resource population via a genome-wide association study

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Abstract

The density of contour feathers is an important trait as it is closely related to heat dissipation in birds. Thus, identification of the major genes that control this trait will be useful to improve heat tolerance in chicken. So far, no GWAS study for the density of contour feathers in birds has been previously published; therefore, this study was aimed to identify genomic regions controlling the density of contour feathers. A total of 1252 hens were genotyped, using the 600 K Affymetrix Axiom Chicken Genotyping Array. The association analyses were performed using the GenABEL package in the R program. In brief, 146 significant SNP markers were mainly located on chromosome 1 and were identified to associate with the density of contour feathers in the current GWAS analysis. Moreover, we identified several within/nearby candidate genes (SUCLA2, DNAJC15, DHRS12, MLNR, and RB1) that are either directly or indirectly involved in the genetic control of the density of contour feathers in chicken. This study laid the foundation for studying the mechanism that underlies the density of chicken feathers. Furthermore, it is feasible to shear the back feathers of live chickens and measure the density of the feathers to improve heat tolerance in breeding practice.

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Funding

This work was supported by the China Agriculture Research Systems no. CARS-40-K01, Jiangsu Agriculture Research Systems no. JATS[2018]247, the Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation for Youths no. 205080274, the Yangzhou Municipal Natural Science Foundation for Youths no. 203310181.

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Correspondence to Kehua Wang.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Human animal rights statement

All animal care and experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use of the Committee of the Jiangsu Institute of Poultry Science (permit number: SYXK 2007–0023).

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Sun, H., Hu, Y., Dou, T. et al. Genetic architecture related to contour feathers density in an F2 resource population via a genome-wide association study. 3 Biotech 9, 400 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-019-1918-y

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