Genetic analysis of a Kaijiang duck conservation population through genome-wide scan

ABSTRACT

1. The Kaijiang duck is a native Chinese breed known for its excellent egg laying performance, killing-out percentage (88.57%), and disease resistance. The assessment of population genetic structure is the basis for understanding the genetics of indigenous breeds and for their protection and management.

2. In this study, whole-genome sequencing was performed on 60 Kaijiang ducks to identify genetic variations and investigate the population structure. Homozygosity (ROH) analysis was conducted to assess inbreeding levels in the population.

3. The study revealed a moderate level of inbreeding, indicated by an average inbreeding coefficient of 0.1043. This may impact the overall genetic diversity.

4. Genomic Regions of Interest identified included 168 genomic regions exhibiting high levels of autozygosity. These regions were associated with processes including muscle growth, pigmentation, neuromodulation, and growth and reproduction.

5. The significance of these pathways indicated their potential role in shaping the desirable traits of the Kaijiang duck. These findings provide insights into the genetic basis of the Kaijiang duck’s desirable traits and can inform future breeding and conservation efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• Kaijiang duck
• genetic diversity
• homozygosity
• inbreeding
• high-frequency

Acknowledgments

The original idea for this study was conceived by Hehe Liu and Zhengyang Shen, and Hehe Liu and Zhengyang Shen designed the experimental methods. Zhengyang Shen,Hehe Liu, Tao Zhang, Twumasi Grace, Jing Zhang, Jianmei Wang, Yang Xi, Rui Wang, Jiwen Wang and Rongping Zhang, collected materials and studied. The manuscript was written by Zhengyang Shen and edited by Hehe Liu, Twumasi Grace. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00071668.2024.2335937

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the grants from the National Key R&D Program of China [2022YFF1000000], the Key Technology Support Program of Sichuan Province [2021JDJQ0008], and the Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Plan Project [2022NSFSC1776].