Using Next-generation Sequencing To Identify Candidate Genes For QTLs Affecting Body Weight And Fat Weight In the Mouse

Abstract Text: Using the mouse as a model of livestock, our previous QTL analyses with congenic and subcongenic mice revealed several QTLs affecting body weight and related traits that were closely linked in a limited congenic region of chromosome 2. In this study, exome sequencing revealed many synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions and several structural mutations for genes in the congenic region. RNA sequencing revealed eight genes in a 17-Mb subcongenic region that were differentially expressed in the liver, a major organ regulating metabolic homeostasis. Some of the eight genes are putative candidate genes for QTLs affecting body weight and gonadal fat pad weight, although further validation studies will be needed. The results provide crucial information to identify causative genes for livestock QTLs in conserved syntenic regions with the mouse region.

Keywords:

mouse

body weight

fat weight

Exome sequencing

RNA sequencing