Polymorphism Candidate Genes of Lien Minh Chickens

Abstract

    Lien Minh chicken is an indigenous breed with several favorable properties, such as high productivity and good meat quality, and is associated with the economic development of the people in the Lien Minh village, Cat Hai, Hai Phong. The objective of the current research was to investigate the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of candidate genes, which might be associated with broodiness and egg production traits. Ninety Lien Minh chicken individuals were genotyped for five SNPs of chicken prolactin (PRL), Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP), neuropeptide Y gene (NPY), growth hormone (GH), and growth hormone receptor (GHR) genes. Blood samples were used for DNA extraction and then for genotyping by the PCR-RFLP method. The allele frequencies obtained were as follows: 0.19 and 0.81 for alleles C and T (PRL-C2161G), respectively; in VIP (G5138982T), 0.55 for the G allele and 0.45 for T; in GH-SacI (the intron 4), 0.02 for A and 0.98 for B; and in GHR-NspI, 0.82 for C and 0.18 for T. The NPY gene (four nucleotide indel) had the frequencies of 0.86 for I and 0.14 for D. The four studied polymorphic loci (PRL, VIP, NPY, and GH) were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the Lien Minh chicken population. These are the initial results, which can be used to analyze the correlation of molecular markers and egg production traits in Lien Minh chickens.