Growth-Associated SNPs of the NCAPG-LCORL Locus and Divergent Functions of NCAPG and LCORL in Chicken SMSCs

Abstract

Simple Summary Body weight is a critical indicator to evaluate the growth performance of chickens at all production stages and is a core parameter for early breeding selection. Given that the NCAPG-LCORL locus has been widely reported to regulate animal body weight and skeletal muscle development, this gene region was selected as the research candidate. Based on genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) data from an F2 resource population, we screened SNPs within the NCAPG-LCORL locus. After linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis, association analyses were performed between tag SNPs/non-tag SNPs and 12 economic traits. Furthermore, we explored the regulatory effects of NCAPG and LCORL on the proliferation and differentiation of chicken skeletal muscle satellite cells (SMSCs) at the cellular level. The elite chickens carrying favorable SNPs identified in this study can be selected in breeding programs to improve economic benefits for poultry farmers.