Correlation analysis of mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi) growth hormone gene polymorphisms and growth traits

• Published in: Journal of genetics 2019-06, Vol.98 (2), p.1-10, Article 58
• Main Authors: Sun, Cheng-Fei, Sun, Hai-Lin, Dong, Jun-Jian, Tian, Yuan-Yuan, Hu, Jie, Ye, Xing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alleles; Analysis; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Breeding; Correlation analysis; Evolutionary Biology; Fishes; Fishes - genetics; Fishes - growth & development; Gene Frequency; Genes; Genotype; Genotyping; Growth Hormone - genetics; Growth hormones; Life Sciences; Linkage Disequilibrium; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Phenotype; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Quantitative Trait Loci; Quantitative Trait, Heritable; Research Article; Single nucleotide polymorphisms; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Siniperca chuatsi; Somatotropin; Weaning
• ISSN: 0022-1333; 0973-7731
• DOI: 10.1007/s12041-019-1100-7

Screening of trait-associated molecular markers can be used to enhance the efficiency of selective breeding. Previously, we produced the first high-density genetic linkage map for the mandarin fish ( Siniperca chuatsi ) and identified 11 quantitative-trait loci significantly associated with growth, of which one is located within the growth hormone ( GH ) gene. To investigate the GH gene polymorphisms and their correlation with growth, the complete sequence was cloned and 32 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and one simple-sequence repeat (SSR) were identified. Of which, eight SNPs (G1–G8) and the SSR (GH-AG) were selected for genotyping and correlation analysis with growth traits in a random population. The results showed that the four novel polymorphic loci (G1, G2, G3 and GH-AG) were significantly correlated with growth traits of mandarin fish ( P < 0.05 ). Of these, G1, G3 and GH-AG showed highly significant correlations with multiple growth traits ( P < 0.01 ) and the combined SNP analysis showed that G1–G3 formed four effective diplotypes (D1–D4), among which D1 was highly significantly greater than D4 ( P < 0.01 ) for some important growth traits. In conclusion, our results show that the four polymorphic loci G1–G3 and GH-AG within the mandarin fish GH gene are significantly correlated with growth traits and could be used as candidate molecular markers for selective breeding of superior varieties of mandarin fish.