Identification of growth hormone DNA polymorphisms which respond to divergent selection for abdominal fat content in chickens.
1993
Fotouhi N. | Karatzas C.N. | Kuhnlein U. | Zadworny D.
Two strains of meat-type chickens which had been derived from the same genetic base, but were selected for high or low abdominal fat content, respectively, were analyzed for polymorphisms in the growth hormone gene (GH). A total of 4 DNA polymorphisms were identified, 1 at a Sac1 restriction site and 3 at MspI restriction sites. Restriction mapping indicated that all polymorphisms were in exons and/or introns and not in flanking regions of the gene. The incidence of GH polymorphisms was determined in 20 chickens from each strain and significant differences were observed for 2 of the 4 polymorphisms. Analysis by DNA fingerprinting using CAC(5) as a probe indicated that the inbreeding coefficient was 0.1 in both strains and that random genetic drift was minimal. Thus, the selection for abdominal fat appears to have affected the frequency of alleles of the growth hormone gene. Whether this is the direct consequence of an altered growth hormone gene on fat metabolism or reflects linkage to an allele of a neighbouring gene remains to be determined.
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