Association of MyF5, MyF6 and MyOG gene polymorphisms with carcass traits in Chinese meat type quality chicken populations

Abstract

The MyoD gene family has been proposed to profoundly modulate muscle development and carcass performance in farm animals. In this study, researchers examined Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in the exons of the Myf5, Myf6 and MyoG genes using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-Single Strand Conformation Polymorphisms (SSCP) and DNA sequencing methods in 360 individuals from 6 commercial pure lines of Sichuan Daheng meat type quality chickens. About 2 SNPs (87T>C and 96C>T) in exon 1 of Myf5, 1 SNP (154T>C) in exon 1 of MyoG and no variation in Myf6 were detected. The 960>T SNP in Myf5 was a rare variant and was not analyzed further. The association analysis of genotypes with carcass traits revealed that the genotypes of SNP (87T>C) in Myf5 were significantly associated with Live Weight (LW), Carcass Weight (CW), Semi-Eviscerated Weight (SEW) and Eviscerated Weight (EW) (p<0.05). The SNP genotypes (154T>C) in MyoG were significantly associated with Live Weight (LW), Carcass Weight (CW), Eviscerated Weight (EW) and Breast Muscle Weight (BMW) (p<0.05). The results suggested that Myf5 and MyoG genes are potential major genes or are in close linkage disequilibrium with the QTL affecting carcass traits in this population of chickens. The 2 SNPs may potentially have use as markers for Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) in chicken breeding. © Medwell Journals, 2011.