Variants of pri-miR-26a-5p polymorphisms are associated with values for chicken egg production variables and affects abundance of mature miRNA.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous non-coding RNAs that have an important role in post-transcriptional regulation. Previous analysis of the chicken ovary transcriptome indicated there was a differential abundance of miR-26a-5p in sexually mature and immature hens. In this study, ten single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites in miR-26a-5p primary transcripts (pri-miR-26a-5p) were identified using Sanger sequencing on PCR products in three chicken breeds, among which, the rs316365438(C > T)SNP was associated with age at first egg (AFE) and total number of eggs at 32 weeks (E32).