Association of Protein Kinase Adenosine Monophosphate-activated γ3-subunit (PRKAG3) Gene Polymorphisms with CarcassTraits in Chinese Meat-type Chickens

Abstract

The protein kinase adenosine monophosphate-activated γ3-subunit (PRKAG3) gene encodes the muscle specific isoform of the regulatory γ3 subunit of adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK), which participates in regulation of energy metabolism and food intake in animals. In the present study, we investigated the genetic polymorphisms of the PRKAG3 gene and the association with carcass performance in 470 Daheng meat-type chickens. One nucleotide substitution (c. 3207 A>G) was detected in the eleventh exon, which caused an amino acid change (p. 1069 T>A). The frequencies of the three genotypes were 44.22% (AA), 36.98% (AB), and 18.80% (BB), respectively. The association of genotypes with chicken carcass traits showed that the genotypes were significantly associated with live weight (LW), carcass weight (CW), breast muscle weight (BMW), leg muscle weight (LMW), abdominal fat weight (AW) and subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT) traits. The BB genotype has higher performance than which of genotypes AB and AA in traits LW, CW, BMW, LMW and AW (P≤0.01 or P≤0.05), which would be genetically advantageous to improve carcass traits in Daheng meat-type chickens. To our knowledge, this is the first report to study the genetic polymorphism of the PRKAG3 gene and its association with carcass traits in chicken.

Keywords

• association analysis
• carcass traits
• chicken
• prkag3 gene
• single nucleotide polymorphism