Primary genome scan for complex body shape-related traits in the common carp Cyprinus carpio

To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) that affect body shape in common carp Cyprinus carpio, a linkage map, 2159.23 cM long, was constructed with a total of 307 markers covering 51 linkage groups (LG). The map included 167 new single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers derived from expressed sequence tags (EST) together with 140 microsatellite markers reported earlier. A primary genome scan was conducted for QTL for standard length (LS), head length (LH), body height (HB), body width (WB) and tail length (LTAIL) in an F1 line containing 92 offspring. A total of 15 suggestive QTL on six LGs were found to associate with LS, LH, HB, WB and LTAIL which explained 10.717.4% of the variance. Five significant QTL were detected for body-shape related traits and located for LGs (lg1, 12 and 20). These QTL included: one associated with LS (21.1% variance explained), three for HB (almost 20% variance explained) and one for WB (20.7% variance explained).