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Identification of quantitative trait loci associated with bone traits and body weight in an F2 resource population of chickens*

Genetics Selection Evolution volume 37, Article number: 677 (2005) Cite this article

Abstract

Bone fractures at the end of lay are a significant problem in egg-laying strains of hens. The objective of the current study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with bone mineralization and strength in a chicken resource population. Layer (White Leghorn hens) and broiler (Cobb-Cobb roosters) lines were crossed to generate an F2 population of 508 hens over seven hatches, and 26 traits related to bone integrity, including bone mineral density (BMD) and content (BMC), were measured. Genotypes of 120 microsatellite markers on 28 autosomal groups were determined, and interval mapping was conducted to identify QTL regions. Twenty-three tests representing three chromosomal regions (chromosomes 4, 10 and 27) contained significant QTL that surpassed the 5% genome-wise threshold, and 47 tests representing 15 chromosomes identified suggestive QTL that surpassed the 5% chromosome-wise threshold. Although no significant QTL influencing BMD and BMC were detected after adjusting for variation in body weight and egg production, multiple suggestive QTL were found. These results support previous experiments demonstrating an important genetic regulation of bone strength in chickens, but suggest the regulation may be due to the effects of multiple genes that each account for relatively small amounts of variation in bone strength.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Melissa A. Schreiweis, Patricia Y. Hester & Diane E. Moody

  2. Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Melissa A. Schreiweis, Patricia Y. Hester & Diane E. Moody

Authors
  1. Melissa A. Schreiweis
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  2. Patricia Y. Hester
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  3. Diane E. Moody
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Correspondence to Diane E. Moody.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Schreiweis, M.A., Hester, P.Y. & Moody, D.E. Identification of quantitative trait loci associated with bone traits and body weight in an F2 resource population of chickens*. Genet Sel Evol 37, 677 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1186/1297-9686-37-7-677

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1297-9686-37-7-677

Keywords

Genetics Selection Evolution

ISSN: 1297-9686