Genome-wide association study reveals genomic regions and candidate genes for head size and shape in bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis)

Head-related traits are economically important in fish because they will essentially affect fillet yields. Bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) is an important aquaculture fish, and interestingly its head has higher culinary and market values than its fillet in China. In this study, using 776 bighead carp individuals and high-throughput SNP genotyping technology, we performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genomic regions and candidate genes potentially associated with head-size and head-shape traits such as head length (HL), head width (HW), head height (HH), head length/head height ratio (HL/HH), head length/head width ratio (HL/HW) and head length/body length ratio (HL/BL). The morphometrics of most of these traits were significantly correlated (P