Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at theGHRgene and its associations with chicken growth and fat deposition traits

Detection of small sequence variations within the goat GHR gene and its effects on growth traits

Growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene is considered to be an important candidate gene in growth traits. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to detect whether there were potential indel variations in the GHR gene that were related to the growth traits of the Shaanbei white cashmere goats (SBWC). In this study, genomic DNA from 931 healthy SBWC individuals were used to verify the relationship between the indel of the GHR gene and growth traits. Two indel variants, P49-bp indel in intron 1 and P1410-bp indel in 3'-UTR, were confirmed. Association analyses demonstrated that these two indel polymorphism loci were associated with the chest circumference and chest width of SBWC. Additionally, for the P49-bp and P1410-bp indel loci, the ID and II genotypes were dominant genotypes, respectively. Moreover, the genotypic distributions of these two indel loci in SBWC were significantly different from those in three other Chinese indigenous goat breeds (HNBG, GZDG and IMWC) (p < 0.05). Taken together, two indel loci (P49-bp indel and P1410-bp indel) both significantly affected the growth traits of goats. This illustrated that these two indel loci might be the potential DNA marker for use in improving the selection and breeding of goats.

circTAF8 Regulates Myoblast Development and Associated Carcass Traits in Chicken

Recent studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play important roles in skeletal muscle development. CircRNA biogenesis is dependent on the genetic context. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the introns flanking circRNAs may be intermediate-inducible factors between circRNA expression and phenotypic traits. Our previous study showed that circTAF8 is an abundantly and differentially expressed circRNA in leg muscle during chicken embryonic development. Here, we aimed to investigate circTAF8 function in muscle development and the association of the SNPs in the circTAF8 flanking introns with carcass traits. In this study, we observed that overexpression of circTAF8 could promote the proliferation of chicken primary myoblasts and inhibit their differentiation. In addition, the SNPs in the introns flanking the circTAF8 locus and those associated with chicken carcass traits were analyzed in 335 partridge chickens. A total of eight SNPs were found associated with carcass traits such as leg muscle weight, live weight, and half and full-bore weight. The association analysis results of haplotype combinations were consistent with the association analysis of a single SNP. These results suggest that circTAF8 plays a regulatory role in muscle development. These identified SNPs were found correlated with traits to muscle development and carcass muscle weight in chickens.

Key Genes Regulating Skeletal Muscle Development and Growth in Farm Animals

Simple Summary

Skeletal muscle mass is an important economic trait, and muscle development and growth is a crucial factor to supply enough meat for human consumption. Thus, understanding (candidate) genes regulating skeletal muscle development is crucial for understanding molecular genetic regulation of muscle growth and can be benefit the meat industry toward the goal of increasing meat yields. During the past years, significant progress has been made for understanding these mechanisms, and thus, we decided to write a comprehensive review covering regulators and (candidate) genes crucial for muscle development and growth in farm animals. Detection of these genes and factors increases our understanding of muscle growth and development and is a great help for breeders to satisfy demands for meat production on a global scale.

Abstract

Farm-animal species play crucial roles in satisfying demands for meat on a global scale, and they are genetically being developed to enhance the efficiency of meat production. In particular, one of the important breeders’ aims is to increase skeletal muscle growth in farm animals. The enhancement of muscle development and growth is crucial to meet consumers’ demands regarding meat quality. Fetal skeletal muscle development involves myogenesis (with myoblast proliferation, differentiation, and fusion), fibrogenesis, and adipogenesis. Typically, myogenesis is regulated by a convoluted network of intrinsic and extrinsic factors monitored by myogenic regulatory factor genes in two or three phases, as well as genes that code for kinases. Marker-assisted selection relies on candidate genes related positively or negatively to muscle development and can be a strong supplement to classical selection strategies in farm animals. This comprehensive review covers important (candidate) genes that regulate muscle development and growth in farm animals (cattle, sheep, chicken, and pig). The identification of these genes is an important step toward the goal of increasing meat yields and improves meat quality.

Integrative Analyses of mRNA Expression Profile Reveal the Involvement of IGF2BP1 in Chicken Adipogenesis

Excessive abdominal fat deposition is an issue with general concern in broiler production, especially for Chinese native chicken breeds. A high-fat diet (HFD) can induce body weight gained and excessive fat deposition, and genes and pathways participate in fat metabolism and adipogenesis would be influenced by HFD. In order to reveal the main genes and pathways involved in chicken abdominal fat deposition, we used HFD and normal diet (ND) to feed a Chinese native chicken breed, respectively. Results showed that HFD can increase abdominal fat deposition and induce adipocyte hypertrophy. Additionally, we used RNA-sequencing to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between HFD and ND chickens in liver and abdominal fat. By analyzed these DEGs, we found that the many DEGs were enriched in fat metabolism related pathways, such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling, fat digestion and absorption, extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction, and steroid hormone biosynthesis. Notably, the expression of insulin-like growth factor II mRNA binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1), which is a binding protein of IGF2 mRNA, was found to be induced in liver and abdominal fat by HFD. Ectopic expression of IGF2BP1 in chicken liver-related cell line Leghorn strain M chicken hepatoma (LMH) cell revealed that IGF2BP1 can regulate the expression of genes associated with fatty acid metabolism. In chicken preadipocytes (ICP cell line), we found that IGF2BP1 can promote adipocyte proliferation and differentiation, and the lipid droplet content would be increased by overexpression of IGF2BP1. Taken together, this study provides new insights into understanding the genes and pathways involved in abdominal fat deposition of Chinese native broiler, and IGF2BP1 is an important candidate gene for the study of fat metabolism and adipogenesis in chicken.

A novel sex-linked mutant affecting tail formation in Hongshan chicken

The Hongshan chicken is a Chinese indigenous breed that has two distinctly different tail types. Some chickens have stunted tails as compared to the normal phenotype, and they are termed rumpless. Rumplessness in other chicken breeds was caused by a reduction in the number of coccygeal vertebrae. However, X-ray examination showed that rumpless Hongshan chickens possess the normal number of coccygeal vertebrae. Our analyses of the main tail feathers and tissue sections led us to speculate that their stunted tail appearance may be the result of abnormal feather development. To investigate the genetic mechanism underlying rumplessness in Hongshan chickens, we analyzed the results of various crosses. The results indicated that rumplessness is a Z-linked dominant character. In addition, we chose some normal and rumpless individuals for pool-sequencing. Nucleotide diversity and Fst were calculated, and a selective sweep was detected on the Z chromosome. These analyses allowed us to reduce the search area to 71.8–72 Mb on the Z chromosome (galGal5.0). A pseudogene LOC431648 located in this region appeared a strong candidate involving in Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway to regulate feather development in chickens.

Overview of Genomic Insights into Chicken Growth Traits Based on Genome-Wide Association Study and microRNA Regulation

Over the two past decades, a significant number of studies have observed animal growth traits to examine animal genetic mechanisms due to their ease of measurement and high heritability. Chicken which has a significant impact on fundamental biology is a major source of protein worldwide, making it an ideal model for examining animal growth trait development. The genetic mechanisms of chicken growth traits have been studied using quantitative trait loci mapping through genome-scan and candidate gene approaches, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), comparative genomic strategies, microRNA (miRNA) regulation of growth development analysis, and epigenomic analysis. This review focuses on chicken GWAS and miRNA regulation of growth traits. Several recently published GWAS reports showed that most genome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms are located on chromosomes 1 and 4 in chickens. Chicken growth, particularly skeletal muscle growth and development, is greatly regulated by miRNA. Using dwarf and normal chickens, let-7b was found to be involved in determining chicken dwarf phenotypes by regulating growth hormone receptor gene expression.

Growth hormone and growth?

Pituitary GH is obligatory for normal growth in mammals, but the importance of pituitary GH in avian growth is less certain. In birds, pituitary GH is biologically active and has growth promoting actions in the tibia-test bioassay. Its importance in normal growth is indicated by the growth suppression following the surgical removal of the pituitary gland or after the immunoneutralization of endogenous pituitary GH. The partial restoration of growth in some studies with GH-treated hypophysectomized birds also suggests GH dependency in avian growth, as does the dwarfism that occurs in some strains with GHR dysfunctions. Circulating GH concentrations are also correlated with body weight gain, being high in young, rapidly growing birds and low in slower growing older birds. Nevertheless, despite these observations, there is an extensive literature that concludes pituitary GH is not important in avian growth. This is based on numerous studies with hypophysectomized and intact birds that show only slight, transitory or absent growth responses to exogenous GH-treatment. Moreover, while circulating GH levels correlate with weight gain in young birds, this may merely reflect changes in the control of pituitary GH secretion during aging, as numerous studies involving experimental alterations in growth rate fail to show positive correlations between plasma GH concentrations and the alterations in growth rate. Furthermore, growth is known to occur in the absence of pituitary GH, as most embryonic development occurs prior to the ontogenetic appearance of pituitary somatotrophs and the appearance of GH in embryonic circulation. Early embryonic growth is also independent of the endocrine actions of pituitary GH, since removal of the presumptive pituitary gland does not impair early growth. Embryonic growth does, however, occur in the presence of extrapituitary GH, which is produced by most tissues and has autocrine or paracrine roles that locally promote growth and development. The role of GH in avian growth is therefore still unclear.

Characterization of the GHR gene genetic variation in Chinese indigenous goat breeds

The aim of the present work was to investigate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene exon 10, characterize the genetic variation in three Chinese indigenous goat breeds, and search for its potential association with cashmere traits. In this study, a polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) protocol has been developed for rapid genotyping of the GHR gene in goats. One hundred seventy-eight goats from Liaoning Cashmere (96), Inner Mongolia White Cashmere (40), and Chengdu Grey (42) breeds in China were genotyped at GHR locus using the protocol developed. In all goat breeds investigated, a SNP in exon 10 of GHR gene has been identified by analyzing genomic DNA. The polymorphism consists of a single nucleotide substitution A → G, resulting in two alleles named, respectively, A and G based on the nucleotide at the position. The allele A was found to be more common in the animals investigated, and seems to be more consistent with cattle and zebu at this polymorphic site found in goats. The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of genotype distributions of GHR locus was verified in Liaoning Cashmere, and Inner Mongolia White Cashmere breeds. According to the classification of polymorphism information content (PIC), Chengdu Grey was less polymorphic than Liaoning Cashmere and Inner Mongolia White Cashmere breeds at this locus. The phylogenetic tree of different species based on the nucleotide sequences of GHR gene exon 10 is generally in agreement with the known species relationship. No significant association was found between the polymorphism revealed and the cashmere traits analyzed in present work.