Polymorphisms of the interleukin-15 gene and their associations with fatness and muscle fiber traits in chickens.
Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a cytokine that has been proposed to modulate skeletal muscle and adipose tissue mass. In the present study, an F(2) resource population of Gushi chickens crossed with Anka broilers was used to investigate the genetic effects of the chicken IL-15 gene. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (g.31224G>A and g.31266T>G) were identified in exon 5 of the IL-15 gene by means of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and DNA sequencing. Associations between the two SNPs and chicken fatness and muscle fiber traits were determined using linkage disequilibrium, haplotype construction, and association analysis. Both of the SNPs were associated with abdominal fat weight, leg muscle fiber diameter, and leg muscle fiber density (p < 0.05). Haplotypes of the two linked SNPs were associated with abdominal fat weight, fat thickness under the skin, and leg muscle fiber diameter (p < 0.05). The results suggested that the IL-15 gene might be associated with the causative mutation or the quantitative trait locus (QTL) controlling the fatness traits and muscle fiber traits in chickens.
College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Henan Innovative Engineering Research Center of Poultry Germplasm Resource, Zhengzhou 450002, People's Republic of China.
Shi-Jie
SJ
Lv
Ling
L
Su
Hong
H
Li
Rui-Li
RL
Han
Gui-Rong
GR
Sun
Xiang-Tao
XT
Kang
D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000235:genetics; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D006239:Haplotypes; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000235:genetics*; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008297:Male; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
D019409:Interleukin-15