Genotype frequency distributions of 28 SNP markers in two commercial lines and five Chinese native chicken populations

Abstract

Background: Modern breeding in the poultry industry mainly aims to produce high-performance poultry lines and breeds in two main directions of productivity, meat and eggs. To understand more about the productive potential of lowly selected Chinese native chicken populations, we selected 14 representative SNP markers strongly associated with growth traits or carcass traits and 14 SNP markers strongly associated with egg laying traits through previous reports. By using the MassArray technology, we detected the genotype frequency distributions of these 28 SNP markers in seven populations including four lowly selected as well as one moderately selected Sichuan native chicken populations, one commercial broiler line and one commercial layer line. Results: Based on the genotype frequency distributions of these 28 SNP markers in 5 native chicken populations and 2 commercial lines, the results suggested that these Chinese indigenous chicken populations have a relatively close relationship with the commercial broiler line but a marked distinction from the commercial layer line. Two native chicken breeds, Shimian Caoke Chicken and Daheng Broilers, share similar genetic structure with the broiler line. Conclusions: Our observations may help us to better select and breed superior domestic chickens and provide new clues for further study of breeding programs in local chicken populations.

Evolutionary Subdivision of Domestic Chickens: Implications for Local Breeds as Assessed by Phenotype and Genotype in Comparison to Commercial and Fancy Breeds

“…Significant changes in overall appearance, arising from the synthesis of breeds through crossbreeding and selection, reflect the acquired biological characteristics of these birds and can be closely related to the purpose of use (i.e., utility types), and admixture of breeds formed from the moment of domestication and during further breeding. Therefore, information on the phenotypic diversity of poultry and its genetic background, including 2 of 23 candidate genes and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with conformation, body weight and egg production, is very important and relevant [8,9]. This information may be of particular importance for local breeds and populations of chickens (e.g., [10][11][12][13][14]), since it can be used for significant acceleration of breeding progress in these populations [15].…”

Functional genes polymorphism associations with egg quality traits in the populations of dual-purpose

“…Regardless of all the progress, modern selection work is not limited to the use of commercial breeds of chickens only. Promising studies include the ones, using local and indigenous breeds from different regions of the world (Li et al, 2020). In this case, the foundation for breeding work is based on 1) the analysis of the genetic structure of populations of different chicken breeds, and 2) the search for associations between determined polymorphic loci and economic traits (Boschiero et al, 2018;Chethan et al, 2018).…”