Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (2): 554-562.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2023.02.013

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Analysis of Chinese Native Chicken Breeds using Genome-wide SNPs

GAO Chaoqun1,2, CAO Ranran1,2, DU Wenping1,2, HU Xiaoyu1,2, LEI Yanru1,2, LI Wenting1,2*, KANG Xiangtao1,2   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China;
    2. Henan Innovative Engineering Research Center of Poultry Germplasm Resource, Zhengzhou 450046, China
  • Received:2022-07-27 Online:2023-02-23 Published:2023-02-21

Abstract: The aim of this study was to analyze the genetic diversity and population structure of Chinese native chicken breeds. A total of 157 chickens from 8 Chinese native breeds and 233 commercial chickens were genotyped using Affymetrix Axiom 600K high-density chicken chip. Each breed's genetic diversity was calculated with observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, minor allele frequency, inbreeding coefficient and nucleotide diversity. Population structure was analyzed with neighbor-joining phylogenetic analysis, principal component analysis, population structure analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS). Identity by state (IBS) and pairwise differentiation coefficient (Fst) were used to study the genetic relationship between and within breeds. Runs of homozygosity (ROH) analysis was used to obtain more accurate inbreeding coefficients. The results showed that the observed heterozygosity of each population was higher than the corresponding expected heterozygosity. Minor allele frequencies ranged from 0.175 to 0.236. Inbreeding coefficients ranged from 0.018 to 0.205. Nucleotide diversity ranged from 0 to 6×10-4. The obvious genetic differentiation was observed between breeds according to the phylogenetic tree and principal component analysis. MDS analysis revealed a relatively close genetic relationship between Chinese native chickens and purebred broiler lines. IBS genetic distance ranged from 0.092 9 to 0.319 9. The populations had a moderate genetic differentiation based on the pairwise Fst data (0.09-0.22). Furthermore, 5 242 ROHs with lengths ranging from 1 Mb to 41.51 Mb were discovered. The ROH-based inbreeding coefficient (FROH) ranged between 0.010 and 0.150. These results revealed that the overall genetic diversity of local chickens is richer. Langshan chicken and Wannan three-yellow chicken had the most genetic diversity. High-levels inbreeding occurred in Fighting chickens, Gushi chickens and Chahua chicken, which might had ever been suffered from inbreeding events. Different breeds existed high genetic differentiation. The results of this study will aid in designing and implementing conservation strategies, which will promote the utilization and conservation of genetic resources.

Key words: Chinese native chicken, genome-wide SNP, genetic diversity, population structure, ROH analysis

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