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Quantitative trait loci segregating in crosses between New Hampshire and White Leghorn chicken lines: IV . Growth performance
Author(s) -
Nassar M. K.,
Goraga Z. S.,
Brockmann G. A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
animal genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2052
pISSN - 0268-9146
DOI - 10.1111/age.12298
Subject(s) - biology , white (mutation) , quantitative trait locus , trait , genetics , gene , computer science , programming language
Summary Reciprocal crosses between the inbred lines New Hampshire ( NHI ) and White Leghorn ( WL 77) comprising 579 F 2 individuals were used to map QTL for body weight and composition. Here, we examine the growth performance until 20 weeks of age. Linkage analysis provided evidence for highly significant QTL on GGA 1, 2, 4, 10 and 27 which had specific effects on early or late growth. The highest QTL effects, accounting for 4.6–25.6% of the phenotypic F 2 variance, were found on the distal region of GGA 4 between 142 and 170 cM ( F ≥ 13.68). The NHI QTL allele increased body mass by 141.86 g at 20 weeks. Using body weight as a covariate in the analysis of body composition traits provided evidence for genes in the GGA 4 QTL region affecting fat mass independently of body mass. The QTL effect size differed between sexes and depended on the direction of cross. TBC 1D1, CCKAR and PPARGC 1A are functional candidate genes in the QTL peak region. Our study confirmed the importance of the distal GGA 4 region for chicken growth performance. The strong effect of the GGA 4 QTL makes fine mapping and gene discovery feasible.