近日，由中国农业科学院北京畜牧兽医研究所副所长、家禽遗传育种研究室研究员文杰领衔的科研团队首次在国际报道，在鸡肉品质候选基因挖掘的研究上获得重要进展。相关文章分别发表于《英国医学研究理事会·基因组学》和《PLoS ONE》杂志上。

中国农业科学院利用GWAS挖掘鸡肉品质候选基因

肉的品质是肉鸡最为重要的经济性状之一，针对其遗传机理的解析一直是世界性的难题。

文杰研究团队在这一领域率先应用高通量单核苷酸多态性(SNP)芯片，利用全基因关联分析(GWAS)和基因时空表达等前沿技术，筛选得到影响肉鸡肌内脂肪含量、肌肉干物质含量及肉色等性状相关的候选基因14个，得到影响胸肌率重要调控基因1个。

多年来，北京畜牧兽医研究所家禽遗传育种研究室致力于鸡肉品质形成和调控机理的研究。此次发现的肉品质相关基因大部分为国际上首次报道，为加快鸡肉品质性状调控机制的阐明及分子标记辅助育种技术的开发作出了重要贡献。

原文摘要：

Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Loci and Candidate Genes for Body Composition and Meat Quality Traits in Beijing-You Chickens

Ranran Liu, Yanfa Sun, Guiping Zhao, Fangjie Wang, Dan Wu, MaIQing Zheng, Jilan Chen, Lei Zhang, Yaodong Hu, Jie Wen

Body composition and meat quality traits are important economic traits of chickens. The development of high-throughput genotyping platforms and relevant statistical methods have enabled genome-wide association studies in chickens. In order to identify molecular markers and candidate genes associated with body composition and meat quality traits, genome-wide association studies were conducted using the Illumina 60 K SNP Beadchip to genotype 724 Beijing-You chickens. For each bird, a total of 16 traits were measured, including carcass weight (CW), eviscerated weight (EW), dressing percentage, breast muscle weight (BrW) and percentage (BrP), thigh muscle weight and percentage, abdominal fat weight and percentage, dry matter and intramuscular fat contents of breast and thigh muscle, ultimate pH, and shear force of the pectoralis major muscle at 100 d of age. The SNPs that were significantly associated with the phenotypic traits were identified using both simple (GLM) and compressed mixed linear (MLM) models. For nine of ten body composition traits studied, SNPs showing genome wide significance (P<2.59E−6) have been identified. A consistent region on chicken (Gallus gallus) chromosome 4 (GGA4), including seven significant SNPs and four candidate genes (LCORL, LAP3, LDB2, TAPT1), were found to be associated with CW and EW. Another 0.65 Mb region on GGA3 for BrW and BrP was identified. After measuring the mRNA content in beast muscle for five genes located in this region, the changes in GJA1 expression were found to be consistent with that of breast muscle weight across development. It is highly possible that GJA1 is a functional gene for breast muscle development in chickens. For meat quality traits, several SNPs reaching suggestive association were identified and possible candidate genes with their functions were discussed.