Research Note: Association of IGF-1Rgene polymorphism with egg quality and carcass traits of quail (Coturnix Japonica)

Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) gene is the main effector of insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which plays an important role in growth, development and reproduction of the animal organism. This study aimed to investigate the association of IGF-1Rgene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with egg quality and carcass traits of quail by direct sequencing. In this study, genomic DNA was extracted from quail blood samples of 46 Chinese yellow (CY) quail, 49 Beijing white (BW) quail and 48 Korean (KO) quail strains. Egg quality and carcass traits were measured and used for IGF-1Rgene analysis in three quail strains. The results showed that two SNPs (A57G and A72T) of the IGF-1Rgene were detected in three quail strains. The A57G was significantly associated with yolk width (YWI) in BW strain (P < 0.05). Whereas A72T was significantly associated with egg shell thickness (EST) in BW strain (P < 0.05), and significantly associated with egg weight (EW), egg long (EL) and egg short (ES) in KO strain (P < 0.05). Haplotypes based on 2 SNPs showed significant effect on EST in three quail strains (P < 0.05), it also has a significant effect on EW in KO strain (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, A72T was significantly associated with liver weight (LW) and dressing percentage (DP) in three strains (P < 0.05). Haplotypes showed significant effect on LW (P < 0.05). Therefore, the IGF-1Rgene may be a molecular genetic marker to improve egg quality and carcass traits in quails.