Integrated analysis of microRNA and mRNA interactions in ovary of counter-season breeding and egg-ceased geese (Anser cygnoides).

Egg-ceasing is a phenomenon that occurs in most avian species and significantly reduces productivity. Although several factors are reported to regulate the reproduction progress, the underlying molecular mechanism of egg-ceasing remains obscure. Herein, we identified and explored the differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs involved in ovarian atrophy via high throughput sequencing.

Genotype frequency distributions of 28 SNP markers in two commercial lines and five Chinese native chicken populations.

Background: Modern breeding in the poultry industry mainly aims to produce high-performance poultry lines and breeds in two main directions of productivity, meat and eggs. To understand more about the productive potential of lowly selected Chinese native chicken populations, we selected 14 representative SNP markers strongly associated with growth traits or carcass traits and 14 SNP markers strongly associated with egg laying traits through previous reports. By using the MassArray technology, we detected the genotype frequency distributions of these 28 SNP markers in seven populations including four lowly selected as well as one moderately selected Sichuan native chicken populations, one commercial broiler line and one commercial layer line.

functions in proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis of chicken satellite cells.

is an important regulator of cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in mammals. Little is known about the function of in the regulation of chicken. Hence, qPCR was used to detect the expression of in different tissues of chicken.

[Genetic regulation of broodiness in poultry].

Broodiness is a behavior commonly occurring in the poultry industry, which is characterized by inappetence, egg-laying cessation and incubation. Different from laying fowls, the ovary and oviduct of broodiness fowls is degenerate. Broodiness is a low heritability trait, which is controlled by multiple genes in autosomes and influenced by three factors, including environment, endocrine and genetics.

Polymorphism in , and genes in different colored feather chickens.

Coat color genetics successfully adapted and applied to different animal species, which provides a good demonstration of the concept of comparative genetics. In this study, we sequenced 945 bp fragments of () gene, 421 bp fragments of exon 1 of () gene and 266 bp fragments of exon 3 of () gene for 250 individuals with five plumage color patterns. We detected a total of three SNPs (T398A, T637C, and G920C) in and built six haplotypes (H1-H6) based on the three SNPs.

Molecular Characterization, Expression and Functional Analysis of Chicken .

Innate immunity is an essential line of defense against pathogen invasion which is gained at birth, and the mechanism involved is mainly to identify pathogen-associated molecular patterns through pattern recognition receptors. (stimulator of interferon genes) is a signal junction molecule that hosts the perception of viral nucleic acids and produces type I interferon response, which plays a crucial role in innate immunity. However, relatively few studies have investigated the molecular characterization, tissue distribution, and potential function of in chickens.

Molecular characterization of a novel ovodefensin gene in chickens.

Host defense peptides (HDPs) represent a large group of diverse small peptides that play important roles in host defense and disease resistance. In vertebrates, one of the main types of HDPs belong to defensins, which are less than 100 amino acid residues and characterized by a highly conserved motif of cysteine residues. Recently, a subfamily of defensins, namely ovodefensins (OvoDs), has been identified in birds and reptiles.

Genotypes of IFIH1 and IFIT5 in seven chicken breeds indicated artificial selection for commercial traits influenced antiviral genes.

Innate immunity is the first line against the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms. Previous reports only demonstrated production traits of commercial importance were often negatively correlated with innate disease resistance. However, whether different purpose of artificial selection influences innate immunity have not been understood.

Experimental Verification of and Gene Polymorphisms in Different Generations of Da-Heng Broilers.

The micromolar calcium activated neutral protease and calpastatin have been widely regarded as genes related to muscle growth and meat tenderness. The objective of this study was to verify the association of SNPs of and genes with carcass and tenderness traits and search the possible change patterns of SNPs in and genes in six generations of broiler breeding process for growth rate, efficiency, and reproduction, during the third generation and the ninth generation, respectively. We found that, for , genetic effects between SNPs (G3535A, C7198A) and meat tenderness were similar in different generations, while SNP3 (G7324A) was a novel polymorphism and had significant association with carcass and tenderness traits ( < 0.

The Relationship between Mutation and Plumage Color Variation in Pigeons.

The polymorphisms of gene play a crucial role in coat color variation in mammals; however, the relationship is still unclear in pigeons. In this study, we sequenced 741 bp fragment of the for 39 individuals with five plumage color patterns (gray plumage, = 12; black plumage, = 9; white plumage, = 3; spotted plumage, = 12; red plumage, = 3). A total of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected, including G199A, G225A, and A466G, which subsequently determined four haplotypes (H1-H4).

MyD88 Polymorphisms and Association with Susceptibility to Salmonella Pullorum.

Myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MYD88), a universal adapter protein, plays an important role in activating the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and regulating the expression of proinflammatory genes like tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-1 (IL-1), which were highly involved in Salmonella Pullorum infection. To detect the relationship between polymorphisms of the MyD88 gene and Salmonella Pullorum disease, we screened the coding region (CDS) of the MYD88 gene by DNA pool construction and sequencing based on case-control study. Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the sequenced fragment (5 exons), 7 known loci and one novel mutation named G4810372T (SNP8), were found in the fifth exon.