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Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering >> 2014, Volume 1, Issue 3 doi: 10.15302/J-FASE-2014018

Genomic regions associated with the sex-linked inhibitor of dermal melanin in Silkie chicken

State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China

Accepted: 2014-12-03 Available online: 2015-01-27

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Abstract

A unique characteristic of the Silkie chicken is its fibromelanosis phenotype. The dermal layer of its skin, its connective tissue and shank dermis are hyperpigmented. This dermal hyperpigmentation phenotype is controlled by the sex-linked inhibitor of dermal melanin gene ( ) and the dominant fibromelanosis allele. This study attempted to confirm the genomic region associated with . By genotyping, was found to be closely linked to the region between GGA_rs16127903 and GGA_rs14685542 (8406919 bp) on chromosome Z, which contains ten functional genes. The expression of these genes was characterized in the embryo and 4 days after hatching and it was concluded that , encoding methylthioadenosinephosphorylase, would be the most likely candidate gene. Finally, target DNA capture and sequence analysis was performed, but no specific SNP(s) was found in the targeted region of the Silkie genome. Further work is necessary to identify the causal mutation located on chromosome Z.

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