Abdelmanova, Alexandra S., Dotsev, Arsen V., Romanov, Michael N., Stanishevskaya, Olga I., Gladyr, Elena A., Rodionov, Andrey N., Vetokh, Anastasia N., Volkova, Natalia A., Fedorova, Elena S., Gusev, Igor V., Griffin, Darren K., Brem, Gottfried, Zinovieva, Natalia A., Abdelmanova, Alexandra S., Dotsev, Arsen V., Romanov, Michael N., Stanishevskaya, Olga I., Gladyr, Elena A., Rodionov, Andrey N., Vetokh, Anastasia N., Volkova, Natalia A., Fedorova, Elena S., Gusev, Igor V., Griffin, Darren K., Brem, Gottfried, and Zinovieva, Natalia A.
Simple Summary: The search for genomic regions of putative selective signaling is instrumental in obtaining information about selection history in various species and populations. Domestic animals are subject to long-term artificial selection that leaves certain footprints in their genomes one can explore using genome-wide SNP screen. We examined here genomes of two contrasting chicken breeds, the native egg-type Russian White and meat-type White Cornish. Using three statistics, we identified genomic regions under putative selection, both breed-specific and shared between two breeds, that harbor key candidate genes for economically important traits. Our findings will be useful in further understanding selection history and genomic diversity in domestic chickens that would be pivotal in their productive breeding. Abstract: Comparison of genomic footprints in chicken breeds with different selection history is a powerful tool in elucidating genomic regions that have been targeted by recent and more ancient selection. In the present work, we aimed at examining and comparing the trajectories of artificial selection in the genomes of the native egg-type Russian White (RW) and meat-type White Cornish (WC) breeds. Combining three different statistics (top 0.1% SNP by FST value at pairwise breed comparison, hapFLK analysis, and identification of ROH island shared by more than 50% of individuals), we detected 45 genomic regions under putative selection including 11 selective sweep regions, which were detected by at least two different methods. Four of such regions were breed-specific for each of RW breed (on GGA1, GGA5, GGA8, and GGA9) and WC breed (on GGA1, GGA5, GGA8, and GGA28), while three remaining regions on GGA2 (two sweeps) and GGA3 were common for both breeds. Most of identified genomic regions overlapped with known QTLs and/or candidate genes including those for body temperatures, egg productivity, and feed intake in RW chickens and those for growth, meat and carcas