[Genetic regulation of broodiness in poultry]

Broodiness is a behavior commonly occurring in the poultry industry, which is characterized by inappetence, egg-laying cessation and incubation. Different from laying fowls, the ovary and oviduct of broodiness fowls is degenerate. Broodiness is a low heritability trait, which is controlled by multiple genes in autosomes and influenced by three factors, including environment, endocrine and genetics. In addition to the observation of behavioral characteristics, the current research of broodiness focuses on evaluating the genetic mode, endocrine factors, nesting candidate genes and their polymorphisms in poultry. Given the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing, the joint analyses of genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics have been used to screen out the candidate genes, pathways and molecular mechanism of broodiness. In this review, we summarize the candidate genes, microRNAs and pathways involved in broodiness to provide a reference for further research on poultry broodiness.