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Genomewide Mapping of Selection Signatures and Genes for Extreme Feather Pecking in Two Divergently Selected Laying Hen Lines

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Feather pecking is a behavior frequently occurring in commercial layer flocks. It often leads to skin injuries and cannibalism. Besides economic losses, severe animal welfare problems cannot be ignored. Previous research has shown that the trait is heritable. Thus breeding against fe...

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Autores principales: Iffland, Hanna, Wellmann, Robin, Schmid, Markus, Preuß, Siegfried, Tetens, Jens, Bessei, Werner, Bennewitz, Jörn
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7070400/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32041297
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10020262
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author Iffland, Hanna
Wellmann, Robin
Schmid, Markus
Preuß, Siegfried
Tetens, Jens
Bessei, Werner
Bennewitz, Jörn
author_facet Iffland, Hanna
Wellmann, Robin
Schmid, Markus
Preuß, Siegfried
Tetens, Jens
Bessei, Werner
Bennewitz, Jörn
author_sort Iffland, Hanna
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Feather pecking is a behavior frequently occurring in commercial layer flocks. It often leads to skin injuries and cannibalism. Besides economic losses, severe animal welfare problems cannot be ignored. Previous research has shown that the trait is heritable. Thus breeding against feather pecking is possible, but phenotyping in a commercial environment is economically unfeasible at the moment because of the lack of proper techniques. Therefore, understanding the genetic background of the trait is mandatory to establish a genomic breeding program. This would require genotypic information of the hens, which is feasible under practical conditions. In the present study, we used different methods to identify regions in the genome that influence feather pecking and extreme feather pecking. We found one trait associated with the genomic region. The use of genotypic information from this region in terms of selection against the undesired behavior may help to improve animal welfare in layer flocks. ABSTRACT: Feather pecking (FP) is a longstanding serious problem in commercial flocks of laying hens. It is a highly polygenic trait and the genetic background is still not completely understood. In order to find genomic regions influencing FP, selection signatures between laying hen lines divergently selected for high and low feather pecking were mapped using the intra-population iHS and the inter-population F(ST) approach. In addition, the existence of an extreme subgroup of FP hens (EFP) across both selected lines has been demonstrated by fitting a mixture of negative binomial distributions to the data and calculating the posterior probability of belonging to the extreme subgroup (pEFP) for each hen. A genomewide association study (GWAS) was performed for the traits pEFP and FP delivered (FPD) with a subsequent post GWAS analysis. Mapping of selection signatures revealed no clear regions under selection. GWAS revealed a region on Chromosome 1, where the existence of a QTL influencing FP is likely. The candidate genes found in this region are a part of the GABAergic system, which has already been linked to FP in previous studies. Despite the polygenic nature of FP, selection on these candidate genes may reduce FP.
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spelling pubmed-70704002020-03-19 Genomewide Mapping of Selection Signatures and Genes for Extreme Feather Pecking in Two Divergently Selected Laying Hen Lines Iffland, Hanna Wellmann, Robin Schmid, Markus Preuß, Siegfried Tetens, Jens Bessei, Werner Bennewitz, Jörn Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Feather pecking is a behavior frequently occurring in commercial layer flocks. It often leads to skin injuries and cannibalism. Besides economic losses, severe animal welfare problems cannot be ignored. Previous research has shown that the trait is heritable. Thus breeding against feather pecking is possible, but phenotyping in a commercial environment is economically unfeasible at the moment because of the lack of proper techniques. Therefore, understanding the genetic background of the trait is mandatory to establish a genomic breeding program. This would require genotypic information of the hens, which is feasible under practical conditions. In the present study, we used different methods to identify regions in the genome that influence feather pecking and extreme feather pecking. We found one trait associated with the genomic region. The use of genotypic information from this region in terms of selection against the undesired behavior may help to improve animal welfare in layer flocks. ABSTRACT: Feather pecking (FP) is a longstanding serious problem in commercial flocks of laying hens. It is a highly polygenic trait and the genetic background is still not completely understood. In order to find genomic regions influencing FP, selection signatures between laying hen lines divergently selected for high and low feather pecking were mapped using the intra-population iHS and the inter-population F(ST) approach. In addition, the existence of an extreme subgroup of FP hens (EFP) across both selected lines has been demonstrated by fitting a mixture of negative binomial distributions to the data and calculating the posterior probability of belonging to the extreme subgroup (pEFP) for each hen. A genomewide association study (GWAS) was performed for the traits pEFP and FP delivered (FPD) with a subsequent post GWAS analysis. Mapping of selection signatures revealed no clear regions under selection. GWAS revealed a region on Chromosome 1, where the existence of a QTL influencing FP is likely. The candidate genes found in this region are a part of the GABAergic system, which has already been linked to FP in previous studies. Despite the polygenic nature of FP, selection on these candidate genes may reduce FP. MDPI 2020-02-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7070400/ /pubmed/32041297 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10020262 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Iffland, Hanna
Wellmann, Robin
Schmid, Markus
Preuß, Siegfried
Tetens, Jens
Bessei, Werner
Bennewitz, Jörn
Genomewide Mapping of Selection Signatures and Genes for Extreme Feather Pecking in Two Divergently Selected Laying Hen Lines
title Genomewide Mapping of Selection Signatures and Genes for Extreme Feather Pecking in Two Divergently Selected Laying Hen Lines
title_full Genomewide Mapping of Selection Signatures and Genes for Extreme Feather Pecking in Two Divergently Selected Laying Hen Lines
title_fullStr Genomewide Mapping of Selection Signatures and Genes for Extreme Feather Pecking in Two Divergently Selected Laying Hen Lines
title_full_unstemmed Genomewide Mapping of Selection Signatures and Genes for Extreme Feather Pecking in Two Divergently Selected Laying Hen Lines
title_short Genomewide Mapping of Selection Signatures and Genes for Extreme Feather Pecking in Two Divergently Selected Laying Hen Lines
title_sort genomewide mapping of selection signatures and genes for extreme feather pecking in two divergently selected laying hen lines
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7070400/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32041297
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10020262
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