State Key Laboratory of Swine and Poultry Breeding Industry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China; State Key Laboratory of Swine and Poultry Breeding Industry, Agro-Biological Gene Research Center, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
State Key Laboratory of Swine and Poultry Breeding Industry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
Poult Sci. 2024 Nov;103(11):104218. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2024.104218. Epub 2024 Aug 14.
The breast plumage color of Guangxi Yao chickens shows obvious sexual dimorphism, with roosters showing black and black with red, and hens displaying partridge and red. Black plumage in roosters is considered a sign of quality, necessitating the purification of plumage color. Here, we developed an effective method based on genetic variations within MC1R and plumage characteristics. We clarified the distribution of 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and 3 haplotypes (H1, H2, and H3) of MC1R gene, and revealed potential associations between haplotype H1 and black breast plumage in the F2 resource population derived from a backcross between Guangxi Yao and Yellow chickens. Subsequently, using H1/H1 diplotype roosters and hens to construct families (n = 1,244) notably increased the proportion of offspring with black plumage. Further analysis suggested that red plumage in hens may be the putative phenotype of black plumage in roosters, driven by haplotype H1 of the MC1R gene, as verified by genotype and phenotype analysis. As expected, we found that almost all male offspring of hens with red breast plumage showed black plumage. In short, we established a selection pattern based on the combination of black-plumage roosters and red-plumage hens can significantly purify the sexually dimorphic plumage color and improve the efficiency of breeding programs in Guangxi Yao chickens. Our findings provide a novel technical framework to accelerate the breeding process for plumage trait in poultry.
广西瑶鸡的胸羽颜色表现出明显的性别二态性，公鸡表现为黑色和黑色带红色，母鸡则呈现鹧鸪色和红色。公鸡的黑色羽毛被认为是品质的标志，因此需要对羽毛颜色进行纯化。在这里，我们基于 MC1R 基因内的遗传变异和羽毛特征开发了一种有效的方法。我们阐明了 MC1R 基因中的 5 个单核苷酸多态性 (SNP) 和 3 个单倍型 (H1、H2 和 H3) 的分布，并揭示了单倍型 H1 与 F2 资源群体中广西瑶鸡与黄鸡回交后代的黑色胸羽之间的潜在关联。随后，使用 H1/H1 二倍体型公鸡和母鸡构建家系（n = 1,244），显著增加了具有黑色羽毛的后代比例。进一步的分析表明，母鸡的红色羽毛可能是公鸡黑色羽毛的假定表型，这是由 MC1R 基因的单倍型 H1 驱动的，通过基因型和表型分析得到了验证。不出所料，我们发现几乎所有母鸡具有红色胸羽的雄性后代都表现出黑色羽毛。总之，我们建立了一种基于黑色羽毛公鸡和红色羽毛母鸡组合的选择模式，可以显著纯化性别二态性的羽毛颜色，并提高广西瑶鸡的繁殖计划效率。我们的研究结果为家禽羽毛性状的选育提供了一个新的技术框架，以加速选育过程。
