The genome-wide study in Japanese quail fortraits related to feed efficiency using asinglestep approach

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the genetic architecture, genomic regions and candidate genes associated with body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio in Japanese quails. For detection the informative genomic windows, genotyping data on 920 quails was used in a single-step genome-wide association study. The BLUPf90 family software was used to perform related analyses. Theresults was calculated based on the proportion of additive genetic variance (agv) explained by genomic region with an average size of 1.5-Mb of adjacent SNPs. Windows with accounting for more than 1% of the agv were used to identify genomic regions and to search for candidate genes. A total of 13 significant windows over 8 chromosomes were explained 23% of the agv for the body weight gain and including SMYD1, ADGRG6 and CFL2 candidate genes. A peak on CJA2 explained the largest proportion of variance. For feed intake, we identified 20 informative windows across 8 chromosomes and including ACSL, PPA2, FGF2 and RBL2 candidate genes. These regions explained 38% of the agv and a peak on CJA4 explained of agv. Also, for the feed conversion ratio, 12 significant windows were identified on 7 chromosomes and explained 23.7% of agv, contained ATRNL1 and PTPN4 candidate genes. Four genomic regions had a pleiotropic effect. Considering the identification of new genome regions and the key role of the mentioned genes related to feed intake, the single step method can be validated for GWAS in feed efficiency traits.