Metagenomic Analysis Identifies Sex-Related Cecal Microbial Gene Functions and Bacterial Taxa in the Quail.

Japanese quail () are important and widely distributed poultry in China. Researchers continue to pursue genetic selection for heavier quail. The intestinal microbiota plays a substantial role in growth promotion; however, the mechanisms involved in growth promotion remain unclear.

Impact of GC content on gene expression pattern in chicken.

Background: GC content varies greatly between different genomic regions in many eukaryotes. In order to determine whether this organization named isochore organization influences gene expression patterns, the relationship between GC content and gene expression has been investigated in man and mouse. However, to date, this question is still a matter for debate.

Indel segregating within introns in the chicken genome are positively correlated with the recombination rates.

Insertions and deletions (Indel) are important sources of genetic diversity and phenotypic divergence. Many factors such as mutation, recombination, selection and genetic drift can jointly affect the indel distribution across the genome. Studies of the relationship between recombination and indel density can, to a certain extent, reflect the selective constrain on indel.

Extent of linkage disequilibrium in wild and domestic chicken populations.

Linkage disequilibrium (LD) analyses play a fundamental role in gene mapping, both as a tool for fine mapping of complex trait gene and in genome-wide association studies. The use of LD analyses in practice depends crucially on the understanding of the patterns of LD in the genome. In the present study, a total of 36 SNP were selected initially in a region (200 kb) of Contig.

[Comparative study of SNP diversity and calculation of the effective size of population in chicken].

A region (200 kb) of Contig. 060226.1 on GGA1 was selected to study the average diversity of Red Jungle Fowl (RJF), Taihe Silk chicken (TS), and White Recessive Rock (WRR), and estimate the effective population size (Ne) of chicken.

[Single nucleotide polymorphisms and fine mapping QTL in chickens].

As an important economically animal and a model animal, a great of progress of SNP diversity and QTL mapping in chickens have been made in recent years. The present paper not only summarized these achievements but also commanded an extensive view about the fine mapping of QTL by the use of SNP marker.