Two insertion/deletion variants in the promoter region of the QPCTL gene are significantly associated with body weight and carcass traits in chickens

Summary Glutaminyl‐peptide cyclotransferase‐like ( QPCTL ) is an isoenzyme of glutaminyl‐peptide cyclotransferase ( QPCT ). QPCTL and QPCT catalyze the formation of N‐terminal modified pyroglutamate‐fractalkine and the chemokine CCL 2. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between insertions/deletions in the chicken QPCTL promoter region with growth traits in chickens. We first detected two insertion/deletion variants of QPCTL via whole‐genome resequencing analysis of DNA samples from Xichuan chickens. A total of 1896 individuals from 12 breeds were genotyped for 52‐ and 224‐bp insertions/deletions. We found two novel insertions/deletions in the promoter region of the chicken QPCTL gene and studied their association with chicken body weight and carcass traits. Our findings show that QPCTL can be a molecular marker for chicken genetics and breeding programs.