Association between Polymorphisms of Lipoprotein Lipase Gene and Chicken Fat Deposition*

The objective of this study was to screen single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the chicken lipoprotein lipase gene (LPL), using 545 F1 hybrids developed from 4×4 diallel crossing of four chicken breeds, and to analyze the associations between polymorphisms of the LPL and chicken fat deposition traits. PCR-SSCP was used to detect SNPs in LPL. Fifteen sets of primers were designed to amplify DNA fragments covering the 5 ́flanking and coding regions of LPL. It showed that there existed 5 polymorphic loci in the 5 ́flanking region and coding region, respectively. Association analysis was carried out between 10 polymorphic loci and intermuscular fat width, abdominal fat weight, and thickness of subcutaneous fat using ANCOVA, respectively. The results indicated that, in the 5 ́flanking region, the loci d and e significantly affected thickness of subcutaneous fat (p<0.05), abdominal fat weight (p<0.01) and subcutaneous fat (p<0.05), while in the coding region, synonymous mutation in exon 8 was significantly associated with intermuscular fat width (p<0.05), however, the non-synonymous mutations in exon 7 and exon 9 did not show statistically significant effects on fat deposition traits in this study. (