Identification of key candidate genes for wing length-related traits by whole-genome resequencing in 772 geese

ABSTRACT

1. A total of 772, 420-day-old Xingguo grey geese (XGG) were sequenced using a low-depth (~1 x) whole-genome resequencing strategy to reveal the genetic mechanism of wing length-related traits by genome-wide association analysis (GWAS).

2. The results showed that 119 SNPs had genome-wide significance for wing length in five regions of chromosome 4, of which the most significant locus (P = 7.95E-11) was located upstream of RBM47 and explained 7.3% of the phenotypic variation.

3. A total of 219 SNPs located on chromosome 4 were associated with 2-joint-wing length, of which four SNPs reached the genome-wide significant level. However, for the length of 1-joint-wing and primary feather, we did not detect any associated locus.

4. Six promising candidate genes, RBM47, SLAIN2, GRXCR1, SLC10A4, APBB2 and NSUN7 on chromosome 4, may play an important role in the growth and development of feathers, muscles and bones.

KEYWORDS:

• Goose
• wing length
• RBM47
• whole genome resequencing
• GWAS

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the assistance to the relevant staff of Xingguo Gray Goose Conservation Farm for their assistance in the housing and care of animals.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Author contributions

J.O., X.Y. and H.C. conceived and designed the study. Y.W., Y.L., J.M. and H.C. analysed the data. Y.W., J.O. and H.C. wrote the paper. H.T., S.Z., Y.X., Y.G., C.W., and L.W. collected data and performed and sequencing. X.Y. and J.O. provided funding support. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Data availability statement

All raw resequencing data used in this study have been deposited in the NCBI BioProject database under accession PRJNA678815. https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA678815?reviewer=7auagfv09e33r2borl05mqrp9l

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00071668.2022.2102889

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 31860622 and 32060735] and Science and Technology Project of Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education [No: GJJ190580].