Correlations Between Microsatellite Loci and Growth and Carcass Traits in Chinese Silkies

In this study, we investigated the correlations between microsatellite DNA polymorphic loci and growth and carcass traits in Chinese Silkies (Gallus gallus) to find possible candidate loci for marker-assisted selection. A total of 240 birds were scored for allele size at 18 microsatellite loci which were offspring of a dam line of Silkies specialized for production performances and a sire line of Silkies for growth performances. Totally, 123 alleles were detected from these polymorphic loci, with a range of 5-8 alleles and an average of 6.83 per locus. The frequencies of the 123 alleles ranged from 0.0532-0.4035. The average value of Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) was 0.805, ranging from 0.707-0.855. The average observed heterozygosity and the average expected heterozygosity of 18 markers was 0.244 and 0.833, respectively. Seven microsatellite loci were found to be correlated with seven growth traits and four carcass traits (p<0.01 or p<0.05). Allele 113 in MCW0254, allele 270 in LEI0146 and allele 172 in MCW0154 may be regarded as three candidate-loci for growth and carcass traits of Silkies.