Study on Association of Melanocortin 1-Receptor (MC1R ) Mutations with Melanin Trait in Chinese Domestic Chickens

Most of the standardized chicken breeds have a plumage color that often allows their unique identification and preferred by different client in the living chicken market place among most of the place in China. This study was aimed at investigating the effect of MC1R gene on plumage color and skin trait in chicken populations. Primer pairs for code region in MC1R were designed from database of chicken genomic sequence. Polymorphisms were detected using DNA sequencing. Sequence analysis indicated that 20 mutations were detected and 6 SNPs were dominated in all plumage and skin color chickens including: T69C, C212T, A274G, G636A, T637C and A644C. Lastly, the relations between SNPs and chicken melanin traits were analyzed, the results showed that there was significant association (p < 0.05) between the T69C, C212T, A274G, G636A, T637C and A644C mutation and chicken plumage color, between the T69C, C212T and A274G mutation and chicken skin color. These results were useful for studying the molecular mechanism that influences plumage and skin color and were used as the base of molecular-assisted selection to plumage and skin color trait. So, MC1R gene may be a potential candidate gene affecting the plumage and the skin color trait of chickens.