Associations of ATGL gene polymorphisms with chicken growth and fat traits

Adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) catalyses the initial step in triglyceride hydrolysis, so the ATGL gene is a candidate for growth and fat traits in chickens. Nine reported single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in 3 exons of the chicken ATGL gene were chosen for genotyping an F, population. Only 5 SNPs were confirmed for polymorphisms and used for association analyses. The results show that c.531G>A (p.E177Syn) was not associated with any growth and fat traits (P > 0.05), but c.782G>A (p.S261N) was associated with body weight (BW) on days 14, 21, 35, 63, 70, 77, cingulated fat width and abdominal fat pad weight (P < 0.05), and significantly associated with BW on days 42, 49, and 56 (P < 0.01). Significant associations of c.903C>T (p.F301Syn) with BW on days 49 and 77 days and crude protein content of breast muscle (P < 0.05), and c.1164G>A (p.K388Syn) with BW on day 7 (P < 0.05) were also detected. Additionally, c.1069T>C (p.L357Syn) was associated with breast muscle colour (P < 0.05), and significantly associated with crude fat (ether extract) content of breast muscle (P < 0.01). Thus the missense SNP of c.782G>A (p.S261N) was significantly associated with the largest number of chicken growth and fat traits in this study.