Association of Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 Gene with Skeletal Traits in Chickens

Bone morphogenetic protein-2 （BMP-2） plays a key role in bone formation and maintenance. BMP-2 can stimulate longitudinal bone growth by increasing the growth plate chondrocyte proliferation, hypertrophy, and cartilage matrix synthesis. The current study was designed to investigate the associations of the BMP-2 gene polymorphism with chicken skeletal traits. Northeast Agricultural University F2 resource population was used in this study. Body weight and body composition traits were measured in F2 population. Polymorphism between parental lines was detected by DNA sequencing, and PCR-fragment length polymorphism method was then developed to screen the population. The results showed that the BMP-2 gene polymorphism was associated with skeletal traits in F2 population. This research suggests that BMP-2 gene may be a candidate locus or linked to a major gene that affects skeletal traits in chickens.