Novel IGF2BP1 splice variants, expression and their association with growth traits in goose

ABSTRACT

1. The gene IGF2BP1 has been reported as being related to the body size and body weight in ducks, goats and chickens. However, this potential growth-related gene has not yet been reported in geese.

2. The goose IGF2BP1 cDNA (IGF2BP1-X1) is 2,925 bp in length, containing an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,731 bp that encodes a protein of 576 amino acids. Six IGF2BP1 transcripts (IGF2BP1-X2∼IGF2BP1-X7) were identified due to the alternative splicing of different exons within the IGF2BP1-X1 transcript.

3. RT-qPCR analysis indicated that the goose IGF2BP1 mRNA was differentially expressed in the examined tissues of female embryos (28 d of development), adult (70 d of age) and laying (270 d of age) Zhedong White geese.

4. In total, 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and three insertion/deletion (InDel) variants were detected in several introns and 3’-untranslated regions of the goose IGF2BP1 gene. The 17-bp InDel within IGF2BP1 intron 14 was significantly associated with body weight at six weeks old (BW6, P < 0.05), and extremely significantly associated with the BW8 and BW10 (P < 0.01) of Zhedong White geese.

KEYWORDS:

• Geese
• IGF2BP1 gene expression
• correlation
• body weight

Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Weihu Chen (Zhedong White Goose Institute of Xiangshan County), Hui Zhao (Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences) and Zhifeng Chen (Heilongjiang Animal Science Institute) for providing the blood samples of geese.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Special Project of Modern Agriculture (grant number: 2021Z131), the China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (grant number: CARS-42-7) and the SAAS Program for Excellent Research Team (grant number: 2022-021).