Genetics and genomics of skeletal traits in poultry species

Description

Impaired skeletal function occurs in both meat-type and layer poultry, with different aetiologies. This chapter reviews the literature on quantitative genetics and genetic mapping of skeletal traits in both types of poultry. Both skeletal defects and bone quality traits in poultry are lowly to moderately heritable. Skeletal defects are only modestly unfavourably correlated with production traits, relatively easy to measure, and consequently show evidence of reduction in commercial breeding programs. Bone quality traits are more difficult to deal with, due largely to more involved phenotyping. There are also potentially unfavourable correlations with egg traits, but this is less well explored. Linkage mapping and genome-wide association studies have identified numerous loci associated with bone traits. The genomic resolution to identify individual causative genes and variants is lacking. However, several studies have identified plausible candidate genes located close to loci with strong association signals.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 Avian bone biology 3 Quantitative genetics of bone traits 4 Genetic mapping of bone traits 5 Measuring bone traits 6 Summary 7 Future trends in research 8 Acknowledgement 9 Where to look for further information 10 References