[Polymorphisms and bioinformatics analysis of chicken prolactin gene]

Four chicken breeds (White Leghorn, Yangshan, Taihe Silkies, White Recessive Rocks) with different reproduction were applied to screen potential SNPs related to laying performance in the 5' flanking region, exon region and partial intron region of chicken prolactin (cPRL) gene. Totally almost 4500 bp were screened rapidly based on DNA pooling and sequencing, and thirteen single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two indels (24 bp and 15 bp) were found, including nine SNPs and two indels in the 5' flanking region, one SNP in Exon 2, two SNPs in Exon 5 and one SNP in Intron 2 respectively. Furthermore, 5' flanking region of cPRL gene was analyzed by the website of http://motif.genome.ad.jp/. A possible Evi-1 binding site (score 93) was found in White Leghorn cPRL gene because of the 24 bp insertion, another possible C/EBPbeta binding site (score 94) was found in Yangshan cPRL gene because of the variation of C-2402T. Further studies need to be carried out to verify their effects on the expression of cPRL gene, the broodiness and laying performance of chickens.