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Poult Sci 2006. 85:2028-2030
© 2006 Poultry Science Association
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RAPID COMMUNICATIONS

Fine-Mapping of Coccidia-Resistant Quantitative Trait Loci in Chickens

E.-S. Kim*, Y. H. Hong{dagger}, W. Min{ddagger} and H. S. Lillehoj{dagger},1

* Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53706; {dagger} Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Animal and Natural Resources Institute, USDA, Beltsville, MD 20705; and {ddagger} College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Gyeongnam 660-701, South Korea

1 Corresponding author: hlilleho{at}anri.barc.usda.gov


   ABSTRACT
TOP
 ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Two commercial, pure broiler lines with different susceptibility to coccidiosis were used to fine-map QTL associated with the previously identified marker LEI0101, located at 259 cM on chromosome 1 and shown to be significantly associated with disease resistance. Eight additional microsatellite markers linked to LEI0101 were used for genotyping of F1 parents and F2 offspring (n = 314), and their associations with oocyst shedding, as a marker of disease resistance, were determined in birds experimentally infected with Eimeria maxima. Single-point analysis of 4 families showed that logarithm of odds (LOD) scores at all marker loci were > 0.5, with the exception of marker LEI0071, located at 242 cM (LOD score = 2.45). Multipoint analysis showed a maximum LOD score between LEI0071 and LEI0101 at 254 cM (LOD score = 3.74). Although the LEI0071 marker was mapped near LEI0101 by linkage analysis, the physical location of LEI0071 was not identified. Further studies to determine the physical locations of these and other markers will allow additional application association mapping techniques using single nucleotide polymorphism markers.

Key Words: fine-mapping • quantitative trait loci • disease resistance • coccidiosis • chicken


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Coccidiosis is a ubiquitous intestinal protozoan infection of poultry that seriously impairs the growth and feed utilization of animals following intestinal infection by Eimeria species. Although tremendous improvements in commercial chicken production traits have been accomplished using classical genetic breeding techniques, selection of commercial poultry stocks with improved disease resistance using similar techniques has been relatively unsuccessful (Gavora, 1990). With the advent of QTL mapping strategies, DNA markers that are associated with disease resistance can be identified in particular genotypes, and this information can subsequently be used in MAS of breeding stocks. Multiple studies have reported QTL mapping of poultry BW, feed efficiency, and other carcass traits, as well as resistance to Marek’s disease and antibody production (Vallejo et al., 1998; Xu et al., 1998; Van Kaam et al., 1999a,b; Yonash et al., 1999, 2001; Tatsuda and Fujinaka, 2001; De Koning et al., 2004; Sasaki et al., 2004; McElroy et al., 2005; Schreiweis et al., 2005; Lagarrigue et al., 2006).

In a previous report, 119 microsatellite markers were used in a chicken whole-genome scan to identify QTL associated with resistance to coccidiosis (Zhu et al., 2003). That study identified marker LEI0101, located at 259 cM on chromosome 1, as being significantly associated with disease resistance, as measured by reduced oocyst fecal shedding of birds experimentally infected with Eimeria maxima. Flanking markers of this locus were identified from 240 to 280 cM. Because this 40-cM region is approximately equivalent to 50 to 60 Mb, it was too large to identify additional genes or markers correlating with resistance to coccidiosis. Thus, the goal of the current study was to utilize more closely spaced microsatellite markers to perform a fine-map analysis of this region.


   MATERIALS AND METHODS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Resource Populations
Two commercial, pure broiler lines showing different susceptibility to coccidiosis were selected as resource populations for QTL fine-mapping, as previously described (Zhu et al., 2003). Both lines have been under selection over 20 generations for a variety of production traits. Chickens were crossed to produce F1 and F2 birds. Twelve families were generated from the F1 population. Their F2 offspring were inoculated with 1 x 104 sporulated oocysts of E. maxima, and oocyst fecal shedding was measured as previously described (Zhu et al., 2003).

Marker Genotyping and QTL Analysis
A total of 314 full-sib offspring and parents were genotyped. Eight microsatellite markers linked to LEI0101 were analyzed by PCR (Table 1Go). These markers were selected based on linkage map, physical map, and marker informativeness (Groenen et al., 2000). The PCR reaction was performed as described previously (Zhu et al., 2003). The data were adjusted for hatch, sex, and interaction between hatch and sex. Sequential oligogenic linkage analysis was used to perform QTL linkage analysis (Almasy and Blangero, 1998). This package detects QTL by the variance component linkage method using identify-by-descent probability among markers in sib-families. The threshold of significance was based on the guidelines suggested for genome scans by Lander and Kruglyak (1995), i.e., a logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 2.7 for single-point linkage analysis and 3.6 for multipoint linkage analysis.


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  		Table 1. Microsatellite markers used in this study
 

   RESULTS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Using single-locus analysis of association with oocyst shedding, the LOD scores at 5 marker loci from 240 cM to 265 cM were > 0.5 based on the data from 4 families classified as informative (Figure 1Go). In contrast, single-point linkage analysis of marker LEI0071 at 242 cM on chromosome 1 gave a LOD score of 2.45, and the marker LEI0101 at 259 cM also was confirmed as significantly associated with disease resistance (LOD score = 2.90). The physical location of LEI0101 was verified at 75.3 Mb on chromosome 1, but the location of LEI0071 was not identified. Multipoint linkage analysis with 1-cM increments based on the 4 selected families revealed a LOD score of 3.74 at 254 cM on chromosome 1 (Figure 2Go). The maximum LOD point was located between the LEI0071 and LEI0101 markers. When 12 families were used for the multipoint analysis, the maximum LOD score decreased to 1.31 at linkage-map location 247 cM (Figure 2Go). The F2 offspring of the largest family was divided into 3 groups based on their genotype (1/1, 1/3, and 3/3) inherited from their parents with marker genotypes of 1/3 and 1/3. The difference between genotypes 1/1 and 3/3 of this locus was significant based on a multiple-comparison test (P < 0.05). Allele 3 was potentially linked to the high-oocyst shedding QTL allele.


Figure 1
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  		Figure 1. Logarithm of odds (LOD) scores of single-point association analysis of 7 microsatellite markers based on oocyst shedding in 4 selected families.

 

Figure 2
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  		Figure 2. Logarithm of odds (LOD) scores of multipoint linkage analysis based on oocyst shedding in 4 selected families and 12 families.

 

   DISCUSSION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
Due to limitations in the available informative polymorphic markers for each family, linkage between markers and traits were evaluated separately for each parent. Marker LEI0071 was highly informative in several families compared with neighboring markers closely linked to LEI0101. The LOD scores were close to 0.0 for less polymorphic markers. In the 4 families selected for the current study, several markers were not informative enough to detect QTL. The remaining 8 families displayed no heritability and were assumed to be noninformative in a previous study (Zhu et al., 2003). The QTL could not be detected using additional flanking markers with the 12 families. This result indicated that genes related to coccidiosis resistance may not be segregated within the 8 noninformative families. Although this chicken population has been under selection for 20 generations, resistance gene(s) might not be selected in some individuals of the resistance line. Also, QTL could have originated from multiple origins of alleles in outbred families.

Although marker LEI0071 was mapped on chromosome 1 by linkage analysis, its physical location was not confirmed. Physical distance is not proportional to linkage-map distance, and the order of markers in linkage maps may not correlate with physical map locations. Once the exact physical location of LEI0071 is determined, improved analysis to better define the relevant QTL region will be possible. Association mapping, based on population-level linkage disequilibrium between a high density of single nucleotide polymorphic marker haplotypes and the genes of interest, can then be used to reduce the required sample size (Risch and Merikangas, 1996). The proteins encoded by known or predicted genes in and around this genomic region will be good candidate markers. This will allow the localization of specific genes controlling resistance to coccidiosis.


   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
We thank Tina Sphon at the Animal and Natural Resource Institute, Bovine Functional Genomics Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD and Erik P. Lillehoj for critical review. This project was supported, in part, by the National Research Initiative of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (grant 2004-35204-14798).

Received for publication April 17, 2006. Accepted for publication June 26, 2006.


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Gavora, J. S. 1990. Disease genetics. Pages 805–846 in Poultry Breeding and Genetics. R. D. Crawford, ed. Elsevier, New York.

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Lagarrigue, S., F. Pitel, W. Carre, B. Abasht, P. Le Roy, A. Neau, Y. Amigues, M. Sourdioux, J. Simon, L. Cogburn, S. Aggrey, B. Leclercq, A. Vignal, and M. Douaire. 2006. Mapping quantitative trait loci affecting fatness and breast muscle weight in meat-type chicken lines divergently selected on abdominal fatness. Genet. Sel. Evol. 38:85–97.[Web of Science][Medline]

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