Division of Animal and Dairy Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea.
Department of Bio-AI Convergence, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea.
Poult Sci. 2024 May;103(5):103590. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2024.103590. Epub 2024 Feb 28.
Histidine-containing dipeptides (HCDs), such as anserine and carnosine, are enormously beneficial to human health and contribute to the meat flavor in chickens. Meat quality traits, including flavor, are polygenic traits with medium to high heritability. Polygenic traits can be improved through a better understanding of their genetic mechanisms. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) constitute an effective genomic tool to identify the significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and potential candidate genes related to various traits of interest in chickens. This study identified potential candidate genes influencing the anserine and carnosine contents in chicken meat through GWAS. We performed GWAS of anserine and carnosine using the Illumina chicken 60K SNP chip (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA) in 637 Korean native chicken-red-brown line (KNC-R) birds consisting of 228 males and 409 females. The contents of anserine and carnosine in breast meat of KNC-R chickens were investigated. The mean value of the anserine and carnosine are 29.12 mM/g and 10.69 mM/g respectively. The genomic heritabilities were moderate (0.24) for anserine and high (0.43) for carnosine contents. Four and nine SNPs were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with anserine and carnosine, respectively. Based on the GWAS result, the 30.6 to 31.9 Mb region on chicken chromosome 7 was commonly associated with both anserine and carnosine. Through the functional annotation analysis, we identified HNMT and HNMT-like genes as potential candidate genes associated with both anserine and carnosine. The results presented here will contribute to the ongoing improvement of meat quality to satisfy current consumer demands, which are based on healthier, better-flavored, and higher-quality chicken meat.
组氨酸二肽（HCDs），如肌肽和鹅肌肽，对人类健康有巨大益处，并有助于鸡肉的风味。肉质性状，包括风味，是具有中等到高度遗传力的多基因性状。通过更好地了解其遗传机制，可以改善多基因性状。全基因组关联研究（GWAS）是一种有效的基因组工具，可以识别与鸡的各种感兴趣性状相关的显著单核苷酸多态性（SNP）和潜在候选基因。本研究通过 GWAS 确定了影响鸡肉中肌肽和鹅肌肽含量的潜在候选基因。我们使用 Illumina 鸡 60K SNP 芯片（Illumina Inc.，圣地亚哥，CA）对 637 只韩国本土鸡-红棕色系（KNC-R）鸟类进行了肌肽和鹅肌肽的 GWAS，其中包括 228 只雄性和 409 只雌性。研究了 KNC-R 鸡胸肉中肌肽和鹅肌肽的含量。KNC-R 鸡肌肽和鹅肌肽的平均值分别为 29.12mM/g 和 10.69mM/g。肌肽和鹅肌肽的基因组遗传力分别为中度（0.24）和高度（0.43）。有 4 个和 9 个 SNP 分别与肌肽和鹅肌肽显著相关（P<0.05）。根据 GWAS 结果，鸡染色体 7 上的 30.6 到 31.9 Mb 区域与肌肽和鹅肌肽都有关联。通过功能注释分析，我们确定了 HNMT 和 HNMT-like 基因是与肌肽和鹅肌肽都相关的潜在候选基因。本研究结果将有助于持续改善肉质，以满足当前消费者对更健康、更美味、更高质量鸡肉的需求。
