Association between cholecystokinin type A receptor haplotypes and growth traits in Japanese Hinai-dori crossbred chickens.

We previously identified quantitative trait loci for body weight and average daily gain in a common region between MCW0240 (chr 4: 69.9 Mb) and ABR0622 (chr 4: 86.3 Mb) on chicken chromosome 4 in an F(2) resource population produced by crossing low- and high-growth lines of the Hinai-dori breed. Cholecystokinin type A receptor (CCKAR) is a candidate gene affecting growth traits in the region. In this study, we genotyped polymorphisms of the CCKAR gene and investigated its association with growth traits in a Hinai-dori F(2) intercross population. All the exons of the CCKAR gene in the parental population were subjected to PCR amplification, nucleotide sequenced and haplotypes identified. To distinguish resultant diplotype individuals in the F(2) population, a mismatch amplification mutation assay was performed. Five haplotypes (Haplotypes 1-5) were accordingly identified. Six genotypes produced by the combination of three haplotypes (Haplotype 1, 3, and 4) were examined in order to identify associations between CCKAR haplotypes and growth traits. The data indicate that Haplotype 1 was superior to Haplotype 3 and 4 in body weight at 10 and 14 weeks of age, average daily gain between 4 and 10 weeks, 10 and 14 weeks, and 0 and 14 weeks of age. It was concluded that CCKAR is a useful marker of growth traits and could be used to develop strategies for improving growth traits in the Hinai-dori breed.