Genetic parameter estimation and molecular foundation of chicken beak shape

Anqi Chen; Xiaoyu Zhao; Junhui Wen; Xiurong Zhao; Gang Wang; Xinye Zhang; Xufang Ren; Yalan Zhang; Xue Cheng; Xiaofan Yu; Xiaohan Mei; Huie Wang; Menghan Guo; Xiaoyu Jiang; Guozhen Wei; Xue Wang; Runshen Jiang; Xing Guo; Zhonghua Ning; Lujiang Qu

Poultry Science (Jun 2024)

Genetic parameter estimation and molecular foundation of chicken beak shape

Anqi Chen,
Xiaoyu Zhao,
Junhui Wen,
Xiurong Zhao,
Gang Wang,
Xinye Zhang,
Xufang Ren,
Yalan Zhang,
Xue Cheng,
Xiaofan Yu,
Xiaohan Mei,
Huie Wang,
Menghan Guo,
Xiaoyu Jiang,
Guozhen Wei,
Xue Wang,
Runshen Jiang,
Xing Guo,
Zhonghua Ning,
Lujiang Qu

Affiliations

Anqi Chen: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xiaoyu Zhao: Xingrui Agricultural Stock Breeding, Baoding 072550, Hebei Province, China
Junhui Wen: Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Xiurong Zhao: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Gang Wang: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xinye Zhang: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xufang Ren: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Yalan Zhang: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xue Cheng: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xiaofan Yu: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xiaohan Mei: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Huie Wang: Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Key Laboratory of Protection and Utilization of Biological Resources in Tarim Basin, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China
Menghan Guo: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xiaoyu Jiang: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Guozhen Wei: Qingliu Animal Husbandry, Veterinary and Aquatic Products Center, Sanming, China
Xue Wang: VVBK Animal Medical Diagnostic Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd, Beijing, China
Runshen Jiang: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Xing Guo: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Zhonghua Ning: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Lujiang Qu: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Key Laboratory of Protection and Utilization of Biological Resources in Tarim Basin, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China; Corresponding author:

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 103, no. 6
p. 103666

Abstract

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ABSTRACT: The bird beak is mainly functioned as feeding and attacking, and its shape has extremely important significance for survival and reproduction. In chickens, since beak shape could lead to some disadvantages including pecking and waste of feed, it is important to understand the inheritance of chicken beak shape. In the present study, we firstly established 4 indicators to describe the chicken beak shapes, including upper beak length (UL), lower beak length (LL), distance between upper and lower beak tips (DB) and upper beak curvature (BC). And then, we measured the 4 beak shape indicators as well as some production traits including body weight (BW), shank length (SL), egg weight (EW), eggshell strength (ES) of a layer breed, Rhode Island Red (RIR), in order to estimate genetic parameters of chicken beak shape. The heritabilities of UL and LL were 0.41 and 0.37, and the heritabilities of DB and BC were 0.22 and 0.21, indicating that beak shape was a highly or mediumly heritable. There were significant positive genetic and phenotypic correlations among UL, LL, and DB. And UL was positively correlated with body weight (BW18) and shank length (SL18) at 18 weeks of age in genetics, and DB was positively correlated with BC in terms of genetics and phenotype. We also found that layers of chicken cages played a role on beak shape, which could be attributed to the difference of lightness in different cage layers. By a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for the chicken UL, we identified 9 significant candidate genes associated with UL in RIR. For the variants with low minor allele frequencies (MAF <0.01) and outside of high linkage disequilibrium (LD) regions, we also conducted rare variant association studies (RVA) and GWAS to find the association between genotype and phenotype. We also analyzed transcriptomic data from multiple tissues of chicken embryos and revealed that all of the 9 genes were highly expressed in beak of chicken embryos, indicating their potential function for beak development. Our results provided the genetic foundation of chicken beak shape, which could help chicken breeding on beak related traits.

Published in Poultry Science

ISSN: 0032-5791 (Print); 1525-3171 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Agriculture: Animal culture
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/poultry-science

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