Genetic introgression through selection in domestic chickens: Insight from whole genome sequence analysis

• Published in: Journal of animal science 2016-09, Vol.94, p.23-24
• Main Authors: Lawal, R A, Wragg, D, Silva, P, Vanmechelen, K, Vereijken, A, Wu, D D, Al-Atiyat, R M, Hanotte, O
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Birds; Chickens; Gallus lafayetii; Gallus sonneratii; Genomes; Heterozygosity; Hybrids; Livestock; Molecular chains; Nucleotide sequence; Offspring; Poultry; Skin; Statistical analysis
• ISSN: 0021-8812; 1525-3163

The evolutionary history of domestic chicken has been subjected to debate since Charles Darwin first proposed the red junglefowl Gallus gallus spp as its sole ancestor. However, molecular evidence of intro-gression from the gray junglefowl G. sormeratii in the form of the yellow skin locus (Eriksson et al.. 2008) and success in producing fertile offspring from Gallus spp hybrids (Danfoith.1958; Morejohn. 1968) has challenged the single species origin for the domestic chicken. In this project, we analyzed the full genomes of 50 birds, including: 4 junglefowl species, indigenous chickens from Ethiopia. Sri Lanka, and Saudi Arabia, as well as European fancy chicken for evidence of introgression from G. sonneratii, G. lafayetii. and or G. varius. Using the pooled heterozygosity (Rubin et al 2010). ABBA-BABA (Martin et aL 2013) and Fst (Weir and Cockerham. 1984) statistics, we identified several candidate regions of introgression from G. sonneratii and G. lafayetii into domestic chicken and vice versa. These regions represent new genomic landmarks of the selection pressures that have shaped the genome of domestic chicken and may provide us with new insights on the history of the geographical dispersion of domestic chicken populations.