Department of Animal Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Krakowska 1, Balice, 32-083, Poland.
Department of Animal Reproduction, Anatomy and Genomics, The University of Agriculture in Kraków, Al. Mickiewicza 24/28, Kraków, 30-059, Poland.
Mol Biol Rep. 2024 May 8;51(1):625. doi: 10.1007/s11033-024-09566-7.
The currently known homing pigeon is a result of a sharp one-sided selection for flight characteristics focused on speed, endurance, and spatial orientation. This has led to extremely well-adapted athletic phenotypes in racing birds.
Here, we identify genes and pathways contributing to exercise adaptation in sport pigeons by applying next-generation transcriptome sequencing of m.pectoralis muscle samples, collected before and after a 300 km competition flight.
The analysis of differentially expressed genes pictured the central role of pathways involved in fuel selection and muscle maintenance during flight, with a set of genes, in which variations may therefore be exploited for genetic improvement of the racing pigeon population towards specific categories of competition flights.
The presented results are a background to understanding the genetic processes in the muscles of birds during flight and also are the starting point of further selection of genetic markers associated with racing performance in carrier pigeons.
目前已知的家鸽是对专注于速度、耐力和空间定向的飞行特性进行单向选择的结果。这导致了赛鸽中非常适应运动的表型。
在这里，我们通过对 300 公里比赛飞行前后采集的胸肌样本进行下一代转录组测序，确定了运动鸽适应运动的基因和途径。
差异表达基因的分析描绘了在飞行过程中参与燃料选择和肌肉维持的途径的核心作用，其中一组基因的变异可能因此被利用来改善赛鸽种群的遗传，以适应特定类别的比赛飞行。
所呈现的结果是了解鸟类在飞行过程中肌肉的遗传过程的背景，也是进一步选择与信鸽比赛性能相关的遗传标记的起点。
