HOXB8 overexpression induces morphological changes in chicken mandibular skin: an RNA-seq analysis

Investigating the impact of pigmentation variation of breast muscle on growth traits, melanin deposition, and gene expression in Xuefeng black-bone chickens

“…Consumers generally associate the blacker appearance with high nutritional value in black-bone chickens ( Yu et al, 2018 ; Xu et al, 2023 ). However, compared to observable traits that can be directly measured or assessed instrumentally, such as feather color, skin pigmentation, body size, and more ( Li et al, 2023 ; Lyu et al, 2023 ; Zheng et al, 2023 ), the blackness of breast muscle is not visually discernible and also cannot be directly detect in live body. And blackness variations significantly impact the commercial value of black-bone chickens, therefore, addressing this challenge remains a difficult problem in breeding processes today ( Sun et al, 2022 ; Xu et al, 2023 ).…”