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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Avian Disease and Oncology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #312694
Title: Fine mapping of QTL and genomic prediction using allele-specific expression SNPs demonstrates that the complex trait of genetic resistance to Marek’s disease is predominantly determined by transcriptional regulation

Author
item Cheng, Hans
item PERUMBAKKAM, SUDEEP - Michigan State University
item Black Pyrkosz, Alexis
item Dunn, John
item MUIR, WILLIAM - Purdue University

Submitted to: BMC Genomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/4/2015
Publication Date: 10/19/2015
Citation: Cheng, H.H., Perumbakkam, S., Black Pyrkosz, A.A., Dunn, J.R., Muir, W.M. 2015. Fine mapping of QTL and genomic prediction using allele-specific expression SNPs demonstrates that the complex trait of genetic resistance to Marek’s disease is predominantly determined by transcriptional regulation. Biomed Central (BMC) Genomics. DOI: 10.1186/s12864-015-2016-0.

Interpretive Summary: Improving genetic resistance is a desirable and sustainable control measure for Marek’s disease (MD), a T cell lymphoma of chickens caused by the highly oncogenic Marek’s disease virus (MDV). In this submission, we demonstrate that differences in MD genetic resistance are due to variation in transcriptional regulation, and not due to changes in protein amino acid composition. This insight allows scientists to identify virtually all the thousands of genes that account for differences in this complex trait, and use this resulting information to select superior birds based on DNA markers. This methodology should be applicable for all other infectious diseases and potentially all complex traits, which will all for the precise prediction and generation of elite birds with superior agronomic traits.

Technical Abstract: The hypothesis that polymorphisms associated with transcriptional regulation are critical for viral disease resistance was tested by selecting birds using SNPs exhibiting allele-specific expression (ASE) in response to viral challenge. Analysis indicates ASE markers account for 83% of the disease resistance variation and following one generation of direct bidirectional selection on ASE markers, the progeny exhibited >20% difference in disease incidence. This approach represents a paradigm shift in QTL fine-mapping.