GENOME WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY FOR GROWTH AND FEED EFFICIENCY TRAITS IN RABBITS
Abstract
Feed efficiency is a major production trait in animal genetic breeding schemes. To further investigate the genetic control of feed efficiency in rabbits, we performed a genome wide association study for growth and feed efficiency on 679 rabbits genotyped with the Affimetrix Axiom Rabbit 200K Genotyping Array. After quality control, 127,847 SNPs were retained for association analyses. The GWAS were performed using the GEMMA software, applying a mixed univariate animal model with a linear regression on each SNP allele. The traits analysed were weight at weaning and at 63 days of age, average daily gain, total individual feed intake, feed conversion ratio and residual feed intake. No significant SNP was found for growth traits or feed intake. Fifteen genome-wide significant SNPs were detected for feed conversion ratio on OCU7, spanning from 124.8 Mbp to 126.3 Mbp, plus two isolated SNP on OCU2 (77.3 Mbp) and OCU8 2 (16.5 Mbp). For residual feed intake, a region on OCU18 (46.1-53.0 Mbp) was detected, which contained a putative functional candidate gene, GOT1.
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