Polymorphism in exon 1 of adiponectin gene and its association with water holding capacity, IMF and abdominal fat in duck

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of polymorphism in adiponectin gene on meat quality traits, serum total cholesterol, serum triglyceride and abdominal fat of 170 individuals from Cherry Valley duck (CV), Jinding duck (JD) and Hybrid duck (CV × JD) (HB) populations. PCR-SSCP technique was developed to analyze a 230 bp region of the adiponectin gene exon 1. Three genotypes (CC, CD and DD), which were the products of two alleles (C and D) were observed. Alignment sequences’ results showed that four SNPs (C86T, C104T, C146T and C155T) were found and all of those nucleotide variations were nonsense mutations. Association analysis indicated that all of these traits had significant population effects except meat colour (P < 0.05) and then the birds with homozygote (CC) had significant lower than homozygotes (DD) for IMF, water holding capacity and abdominal fat (P < 0.05). The research suggested that genotype DD may be an advantage genotype for fat deposition in duck. The adiponectin gene exon 1 polymorphism could be used in marker assistant selection (MAS) as a genetic marker for the birds’ fat deposition.Key words: Duck, adiponectin gene, polymorphism, meat quality, fatness