scholarly journals Genome-wide association and selective sweep analyses reveal genetic loci for FCR of egg production traits in ducks

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hehe Liu ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Zhanbao Guo ◽  
Qian Xu ◽  
Wenlei Fan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background As a major economic trait in poultry, egg production efficiency attracts widespread interest in breeding and production. However, limited information is available about the underlying genetic architecture of egg production traits in ducks. In this paper, we analyzed six egg production-related traits in 352 F2 ducks derived from reciprocal crosses between mallard and Pekin ducks. Results Feed conversation ratio (FCR) was positively correlated with feed intake but negatively correlated with egg-related traits, including egg weight and egg production, both phenotypically and genetically. Estimates of pedigree-based heritability were higher than 0.2 for all traits investigated, except hip-width. Based on whole-genome sequencing data, we conducted genome-wide association studies to identify genomic regions associated with these traits. In total, 11 genomic regions were associated with FCR. No genomic regions were identified as significantly associated with hip-width, total feed intake, average daily feed intake, and total egg production. Analysis of selective sweeps between mallard and Pekin ducks confirmed three of these genomic regions on chromosomes 13, 3 and 6. Within these three regions, variants in candidate genes that were in linkage disequilibrium with the GWAS leader single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (Chr13:2,196,728, P = 7.05 × 10–14; Chr3:76,991,524, P = 1.06 × 10–12; Chr6:20,356,803, P = 1.14 × 10–10) were detected. Thus, we identified 31 potential candidate genes associated with FCR, among which the strongest candidates are those that are highly expressed in tissues involved in reproduction and nervous system functions of ducks: CNTN4, CRBR, GPR63, KLHL32, FHL5, TRNT1, MANEA, NDUFAF4, and SCD. Conclusions For the first time, we report the identification of genomic regions that are associated with FCR in ducks and our results illustrate the genomic changes that occurred during their domestication and are involved in egg production efficiency.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiurong Zhao ◽  
Changsheng Nie ◽  
Jinxin Zhang ◽  
Xinghua Li ◽  
Tao Zhu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Since the domestication of chicken, various chicken breeds have been developed for food production, entertainment, and so on. Compared to indigenous chicken breeds which generally do not show elite production performance, commercial breeds or lines are selected intensely for meat or egg production. In the present study, in order to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the dramatic egg yielding differences between commercial egg-type chickens and indigenous chickens, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a mixed linear model. Results: We obtained 148 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with egg production traits or reproductive traits (57 significantly, 91 suggestively). Among them, 18 SNPs overlapped with previously reported quantitative trait loci (QTL), including 13 for egg production and 5 for reproductive traits. Three SNPs were significantly associated with multiple egg production traits, such as egg number, age at first egg, and egg production rate in chickens. Furthermore, we identified 32 candidate genes based on the function of the screened genes. These genes were found to be mainly involved in regulating hormones, playing a role in the formation, growth, and development of follicles, and in the development of the reproductive system. Some genes such as NELL2, KITLG, GHRHR, NCOA1, ITPR1, GAMT, and CAMK4 deserve our attention and further study since they have been reported to be closely related to reproductive traits. In addition, the most significant genomic region obtained in this study was located at 48.61-48.84Mb on GGA5. In this region, we have repeatedly annotated four genes, in which YY1 and WDR25 have been shown to be related to oocytes and reproductive tissues, respectively, which implies that this region may be a candidate region underlying egg production traits. Conclusion: Our study utilized the genomic information from various chicken breeds or populations differed in egg production to understand the molecular genetic mechanisms involved in reproduction traits. We identified a series of SNPs, candidate genes, or genomic regions that associated with reproductive traits, which could help us in developing egg production in chickens.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime A. Osorio-Guarín ◽  
Gina A. Garzón-Martínez ◽  
Paola Delgadillo-Duran ◽  
Silvio Bastidas ◽  
Leidy P. Moreno ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The genus Elaeis has two species of economic importance for the oil palm agroindustry: Elaeis oleifera (O), native to the Americas, and Elaeis guineensis (G), native to Africa. This work provides to our knowledge, the first association mapping study in an interspecific OxG oil palm population, which shows tolerance to pests and diseases, high oil quality, and acceptable fruit bunch production. Results Using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), we identified a total of 3776 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were used to perform a genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) in 378 OxG hybrid population for 10 agronomic traits. Twelve genomic regions (SNPs) were located near candidate genes implicated in multiple functional categories, such as tissue growth, cellular trafficking, and physiological processes. Conclusions We provide new insights on genomic regions that mapped on candidate genes involved in plant architecture and yield. These potential candidate genes need to be confirmed for future targeted functional analyses. Associated markers to the traits of interest may be valuable resources for the development of marker-assisted selection in oil palm breeding.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiurong Zhao ◽  
Changsheng Nie ◽  
Jinxin Zhang ◽  
Xinghua Li ◽  
Tao Zhu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Since the domestication of chicken, various breeds have been developed for food production, entertainment, and so on. Compared to indigenous chicken breeds which generally do not show elite production performance, commercial breeds or lines are selected intensely for meat or egg production. In the present study, in order to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the dramatic differences of egg number between commercial egg-type chickens and indigenous chickens, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a mixed linear model. Results We obtained 148 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with egg number traits (57 significantly, 91 suggestively). Among them, 4 SNPs overlapped with previously reported quantitative trait loci (QTL), including 2 for egg production and 2 for reproductive traits. Furthermore, we identified 32 candidate genes based on the function of the screened genes. These genes were found to be mainly involved in regulating hormones, playing a role in the formation, growth, and development of follicles, and in the development of the reproductive system. Some genes such as NELL2 (neural EGFL like 2), KITLG (KIT ligand), GHRHR (Growth hormone releasing hormone receptor), NCOA1 (Nuclear receptor coactivator 1), ITPR1 (inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate receptor type 1), GAMT (guanidinoacetate N-methyltransferase), and CAMK4 (calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV) deserve our attention and further study since they have been reported to be closely related to egg production, egg number and reproductive traits. In addition, the most significant genomic region obtained in this study was located at 48.61–48.84 Mb on GGA5. In this region, we have repeatedly identified four genes, in which YY1 (YY1 transcription factor) and WDR25 (WD repeat domain 25) have been shown to be related to oocytes and reproductive tissues, respectively, which implies that this region may be a candidate region underlying egg number traits. Conclusion Our study utilized the genomic information from various chicken breeds or populations differed in the average annual egg number to understand the molecular genetic mechanisms involved in egg number traits. We identified a series of SNPs, candidate genes, or genomic regions that associated with egg number, which could help us in developing the egg production trait in chickens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raju Bheemanahalli ◽  
Montana Knight ◽  
Cherryl Quinones ◽  
Colleen J. Doherty ◽  
S. V. Krishna Jagadish

AbstractHigh night temperatures (HNT) are shown to significantly reduce rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield and quality. A better understanding of the genetic architecture of HNT tolerance will help rice breeders to develop varieties adapted to future warmer climates. In this study, a diverse indica rice panel displayed a wide range of phenotypic variability in yield and quality traits under control night (24 °C) and higher night (29 °C) temperatures. Genome-wide association analysis revealed 38 genetic loci associated across treatments (18 for control and 20 for HNT). Nineteen loci were detected with the relative changes in the traits between control and HNT. Positive phenotypic correlations and co-located genetic loci with previously cloned grain size genes revealed common genetic regulation between control and HNT, particularly grain size. Network-based predictive models prioritized 20 causal genes at the genetic loci based on known gene/s expression under HNT in rice. Our study provides important insights for future candidate gene validation and molecular marker development to enhance HNT tolerance in rice. Integrated physiological, genomic, and gene network-informed approaches indicate that the candidate genes for stay-green trait may be relevant to minimizing HNT-induced yield and quality losses during grain filling in rice by optimizing source-sink relationships.


Rice ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Nayyeripasand ◽  
Ghasem Ali Garoosi ◽  
Asadollah Ahmadikhah

Abstract Background Rice is considered as a salt-sensitive plant, particularly at early vegetative stage, and its production is suffered from salinity due to expansion of salt affected land in areas under cultivation. Hence, significant increase of rice productivity on salinized lands is really necessary. Today genome-wide association study (GWAS) is a method of choice for fine mapping of QTLs involved in plant responses to abiotic stresses including salinity stress at early vegetative stage. In this study using > 33,000 SNP markers we identified rice genomic regions associated to early stage salinity tolerance. Eight salinity-related traits including shoot length (SL), root length (RL), root dry weight (RDW), root fresh weight (RFW), shoot fresh weight (SFW), shoot dry weight (SDW), relative water content (RWC) and TW, and 4 derived traits including SL-R, RL-R, RDW-R and RFW-R in a diverse panel of rice were evaluated under salinity (100 mM NaCl) and normal conditions in growth chamber. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) was applied based on MLM(+Q + K) model. Results Under stress conditions 151 trait-marker associations were identified that were scattered on 10 chromosomes of rice that arranged in 29 genomic regions. A genomic region on chromosome 1 (11.26 Mbp) was identified which co-located with a known QTL region SalTol1 for salinity tolerance at vegetative stage. A candidate gene (Os01g0304100) was identified in this region which encodes a cation chloride cotransporter. Furthermore, on this chromosome two other candidate genes, Os01g0624700 (24.95 Mbp) and Os01g0812000 (34.51 Mbp), were identified that encode a WRKY transcription factor (WRKY 12) and a transcriptional activator of gibberellin-dependent alpha-amylase expression (GAMyb), respectively. Also, a narrow interval on the same chromosome (40.79–42.98 Mbp) carries 12 candidate genes, some of them were not so far reported for salinity tolerance at seedling stage. Two of more interesting genes are Os01g0966000 and Os01g0963000, encoding a plasma membrane (PM) H+-ATPase and a peroxidase BP1 protein. A candidate gene was identified on chromosome 2 (Os02g0730300 at 30.4 Mbp) encoding a high affinity K+ transporter (HAK). On chromosome 6 a DnaJ-encoding gene and pseudouridine synthase gene were identified. Two novel genes on chromosome 8 including the ABI/VP1 transcription factor and retinoblastoma-related protein (RBR), and 3 novel genes on chromosome 11 including a Lox, F-box and Na+/H+ antiporter, were also identified. Conclusion Known or novel candidate genes in this research were identified that can be used for improvement of salinity tolerance in molecular breeding programmes of rice. Further study and identification of effective genes on salinity tolerance by the use of candidate gene-association analysis can help to precisely uncover the mechanisms of salinity tolerance at molecular level. A time dependent relationship between salt tolerance and expression level of candidate genes could be recognized.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e0140615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingwei Yuan ◽  
Congjiao Sun ◽  
Taocun Dou ◽  
Guoqiang Yi ◽  
LuJiang Qu ◽  
...  

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang ◽  
Chen ◽  
Ye ◽  
He ◽  
Huang ◽  
...  

In the pig industry, reproductive traits constantly influence the production efficiency. To identify markers and candidate genes underlying porcine reproductive traits, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed in a Duroc pig population. In total, 1067 pigs were genotyped using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chips, and four reproductive traits, including litter size at birth (LSB), litter weight at birth (LWB), litter size at weaning (LSW), and litter weight at weaning (LWW), were examined. The results showed that 20 potential SNPs reached the level of suggestive significance and were associated with these traits of interest. Several important candidate genes, including TXN2, KCNA1, ENSSSCG00000003546, ZDHHC18, MAP2K6, BICC1, FAM135B, EPHB2, SEMA4D, ST3GAL1, KCTD3, FAM110A, TMEM132D, TBX3, and FAM110A, were identified and might compose the underlying genetic architecture of porcine reproductive traits. These findings help to understand the genetic basis of porcine reproductive traits and provide important information for molecular breeding in pigs.


Epigenomes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingzhao Fang ◽  
Yang Zhou ◽  
Shuli Liu ◽  
Jicai Jiang ◽  
Derek M. Bickhart ◽  
...  

Decreased male fertility is a big concern in both human society and the livestock industry. Sperm DNA methylation is commonly believed to be associated with male fertility. However, due to the lack of accurate male fertility records (i.e., limited mating times), few studies have investigated the comprehensive impacts of sperm DNA methylation on male fertility in mammals. In this study, we generated 10 sperm DNA methylomes and performed a preliminary correlation analysis between signals from sperm DNA methylation and signals from large-scale (n = 27,214) genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of 35 complex traits (including 12 male fertility-related traits). We detected genomic regions, which experienced DNA methylation alterations in sperm and were associated with aging and extreme fertility phenotypes (e.g., sire-conception rate or SCR). In dynamic hypomethylated regions (HMRs) and partially methylated domains (PMDs), we found genes (e.g., HOX gene clusters and microRNAs) that were involved in the embryonic development. We demonstrated that genomic regions, which gained rather than lost methylations during aging, and in animals with low SCR were significantly and selectively enriched for GWAS signals of male fertility traits. Our study discovered 16 genes as the potential candidate markers for male fertility, including SAMD5 and PDE5A. Collectively, this initial effort supported a hypothesis that sperm DNA methylation may contribute to male fertility in cattle and revealed the usefulness of functional annotations in enhancing biological interpretation and genomic prediction for complex traits and diseases.


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