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Updated: Jun 12, 2025
Large-Scale Multi-Omics Genome-Wide Association Studies Mo-GWAS: Guidelines for Sample Preparation and Normalization
Published on: July 27, 2021
Age-dependent genetic architectures of chicken body weight explored by multidimensional GWAS and molQTL analyses
Conghao Zhong1, Xiaochang Li1, Dailu Guan2
1State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding and Frontier Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
Abstract:
Chicken body weight (BW) is a critical trait in breeding. Although genetic variants associated with BW have been investigated by genome-wide association studies (GWAS), the contributions of causal variants and their molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear in chickens. In this study, we construct a comprehensive genetic atlas of chicken BW by integrative analysis of 30 age points and 5 quantitative trait loci (QTL) across 27 tissues. We find that chicken growth is a cumulative non-linear process, which can be divided into three distinct stages. Our GWAS analysis reveals that BW-related genetic variations show ordered patterns in these three stages. Genetic variations in chromosome 1 may regulate the overall growth process, likely by modulating the hypothalamus-specific expression of SLC25A30 and retina-specific expression of NEK3. Moreover, genetic variations in chromosome 4 and chromosome 27 may play dominant roles in regulating BW during Stage 2 (8-22 weeks) and Stage 3 (23-72 weeks), respectively. In summary, our study presents a comprehensive genetic atlas regulating developmental stage-specific changes in chicken BW, thus providing important resources for genomic selection in breeding programs.
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