Genetic Foundation of Male Spur Length and Its Correlation with Female Egg Production in Chickens

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

doi:10.3390/ani14121780

Animals (Jun 2024)

Genetic Foundation of Male Spur Length and Its Correlation with Female Egg Production in Chickens

Anqi Chen,
Xiaoyu Zhao,
Xiurong Zhao,
Gang Wang,
Xinye Zhang,
Xufang Ren,
Yalan Zhang,
Xue Cheng,
Xiaofan Yu,
Huie Wang,
Menghan Guo,
Xiaoyu Jiang,
Xiaohan Mei,
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, 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
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
Xiaohan Mei: 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 365501, China
Xue Wang: VVBK Animal Medical Diagnostic Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Beijing 100199, 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

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14121780
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 14, no. 12
p. 1780

Abstract

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Spurs, which mainly appear in roosters, are protrusions near the tarsometatarsus on both sides of the calves of chickens, and are connected to the tarsometatarsus by a bony core. As a male-biased morphological characteristic, the diameter and length of spurs vary significantly between different individuals, mainly related to genetics and age. As a specific behavior of hens, egg-laying also varies greatly between individuals in terms of traits such as age at first egg (AFE), egg weight (EW), and so on. At present, there are few studies on chicken spurs. In this study, we investigated the inheritance pattern of the spur trait in roosters with different phenotypes and the correlations between spur length, body weight at 18 weeks of age (BW18), shank length at 18 weeks of age (SL18), and the egg-laying trait in hens (both hens and roosters were from the same population and were grouped according to their family). These traits related to egg production included AFE, body weight at first egg (BWA), and first egg weight (FEW). We estimated genetic parameters based on pedigree and phenotype data, and used variance analysis to calculate broad-sense heritability for correcting the parameter estimation results. The results showed that the heritability of male left and right spurs ranged from 0.6 to 0.7. There were significant positive correlations between left and right spur length, BW18, SL18, and BWA, as well as between left and right spur length and AFE. We selected 35 males with the longest spurs and 35 males with the shortest spurs in the population, and pooled them into two sets to obtain the pooled genome sequencing data. After genome-wide association and genome divergency analysis by FST, allele frequency differences (AFDs), and XPEHH methods, we identified 7 overlapping genes (CENPE, FAT1, FAM149A, MANBA, NFKB1, SORBS2, UBE2D3) and 14 peak genes (SAMD12, TSPAN5, ENSGALG00000050071, ENSGALG00000053133, ENSGALG00000050348, CNTN5, TRPC6, ENSGALG00000047655,TMSB4X, LIX1, CKB, NEBL, PRTFDC1, MLLT10) related to left and right spur length through genome-wide selection signature analysis and a genome-wide association approach. Our results identified candidate genes associated with chicken spurs, which helps to understand the genetic mechanism of this trait and carry out subsequent research around it.

Published in Animals

ISSN: 2076-2615 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Agriculture: Animal culture: Veterinary medicine; Science: Zoology
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/animals/

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