title: Parallel Evolution of Polydactyly Traits in Chinese and European Chickens.
abstract: Polydactyly is one of the most common hereditary congenital limb malformations in chickens and other vertebrates. The zone of polarizing activity regulatory sequence (ZRS) is critical for the development of polydactyly. The causative mutation of polydactyly in the Silkie chicken has been mapped to the ZRS; however, the causative mutations of other chicken breeds are yet to be established. To understand whether the same mutation decides the polydactyly phenotype in other chicken breeds, we detected the single-nucleotide polymorphism in 26 different chicken breeds, specifically, 24 Chinese indigenous breeds and 2 European breeds. The mutation was found to have fully penetrated chickens with polydactyly in China, indicating that it is causative for polydactyly in Chinese indigenous chickens. In comparison, the mutation showed no association with polydactyly in Houdan chickens, which originate from France, Europe. Based on the different morphology of polydactyly in Chinese and European breeds, we assumed that the trait might be attributable to different genetic foundations. Therefore, we subsequently performed genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) to locate the region associated with polydactyly. As a result, a ~0.39 Mb genomic region on GGA2p was identified. The region contains six candidate genes, with the causative mutation found in Chinese indigenous breeds also being located in this region. Our results demonstrate that polydactyly in chickens from China and Europe is caused by two independent mutation events that are closely located in the chicken genome.
authors: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Zebin
authors: Z
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Changsheng
authors: C
authors: Nie
authors: Beijing Municipal General Station of Animal Science, Beijing, 100107, China.
authors: Yaxiong
authors: Y
authors: Jia
authors: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China.
authors: Runshen
authors: R
authors: Jiang
authors: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Haijian
authors: H
authors: Xia
authors: Beijing Municipal General Station of Animal Science, Beijing, 100107, China.
authors: Xueze
authors: X
authors: Lv
authors: Beijing Municipal General Station of Animal Science, Beijing, 100107, China.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Junying
authors: J
authors: Li
authors: College of Animal Science, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, 271018, China.
authors: Xianyao
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Zhonghua
authors: Z
authors: Ning
authors: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Guiyun
authors: G
authors: Xu
authors: Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Jilan
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Ning
authors: N
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors: Lujiang
authors: L
authors: Qu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000235:genetics; D002681:China; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005060:Europe; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000662:veterinary; D017689:Polydactyly / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004247:DNA