title: A genome-wide association study identifies major loci affecting the immune response against infectious bronchitis virus in chicken.
abstract: Coronaviruses are a hot research topic because they can cause severe diseases in humans and animals. Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), belonging to gamma-coronaviruses, causes a highly infectious respiratory viral disease and can result in catastrophic economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. Unfortunately, the genetic basis of the host immune responses against IBV is poorly understood. In the present study, the antibody levels against IBV post-immunization were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the serum of 511 individuals from a commercial chicken (Gallus gallus) population. A genome-wide association study using 43,211 single nucleotide polymorphism markers was performed to identify the major loci affecting the immune response against IBV. This study detected 20 significant (P<1.16 × 10(-6)) effect single nucleotide polymorphisms for the antibody level against IBV. These single nucleotide polymorphisms were distributed on five chicken chromosomes (GGA), involving GGA1, GGA3, GGA5, GGA8, and GGA9. The genes in the 1-Mb windows surrounding each single nucleotide polymorphism with significant effect for the antibody level against IBV were associated with many biological processes or pathways related to immunity, such as the defense response and mTOR signaling pathway. A genomic region containing a cluster of 13 beta-defensin (GAL1-13) and interleukin-17F genes on GGA3 probably plays an important role in the immune response against IBV. In addition, the major loci significantly associated with the antibody level against IBV on GGA1 and GGA5 could explain about 12% and 13% of the phenotypic variation, respectively. This study suggested that the chicken genome has several important loci affecting the immune response against IBV, and increases our knowledge of how to control outbreaks of infectious bronchitis.
authors: Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: chenglongluo1981@163.com.
authors: Chenglong
authors: C
authors: Luo
authors: Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: qhw03@163.com.
authors: Hao
authors: H
authors: Qu
authors: Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: zzitmj@126.com.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Ma
authors: Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: wangjie030@126.com.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: State Key Laboratory for Agro-Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China. Electronic address: huxx@cau.edu.cn.
authors: Xiaoxiang
authors: X
authors: Hu
authors: State Key Laboratory for Agro-Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China. Electronic address: ninglcau@cau.edu.cn.
authors: Ning
authors: N
authors: Li
authors: Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: shudm@263.net.
authors: Dingming
authors: D
authors: Shu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D002645:Chickens; D002875:Chromosomes; D017934:Coronavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary; D056426:Genetic Loci; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D001351:Infectious bronchitis virus / Q000502:physiology*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D014611:Vaccination; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014765:Viral Vaccines
keywords: Chicken; Coronavirus; Genome-wide association study; Immune response; Infectious bronchitis virus; Single nucleotide polymorphism