A molecular genome scan to identify DNA segments associated with live weight in Japanese quail

Japanese quail is an animal model in biological studies and also a commercial bird for eggs and meat production. This study was conducted to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting live weight in Japanese quail. An F2 mapping population was developed by crossing two diverse lines (meat type and egg layer) of Japanese quail. A total number of 34 F1 and 422 F2 progeny were produced by reciprocal crossing of eight pairs of parental birds. All the birds from three generations were genotyped for SSR markers that were spread across all the autosomal linkage groups. The studied traits were hatching weight and live weights at 1–5 weeks of age. QTL analysis was conducted by the regression interval mapping. Significant QTL were detected on chromosomes 1, 2, 3 (chromosome-wide significant) and 5 (genome-wide significant, P