Polymorphism in the IGF-1 and NPRY gene associated with important economic traits in ‘Zo-ar’ chicken of Mizoram, India

Background: Molecular genomic selection on candidate genes is proving to be a promising method to genetically improve economically important traits in chickens.These molecular markers have provided new opportunities and also have accelerated the process of selection and obtaining the desired genetic gain or selection for new traits that are costly or dif icult to record in animals to improve animal production.The Neuropeptide Y (NPY) gene is known to in luence the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the median eminence and is also critical in controlling feed intake in birds.Similarly, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) gene acts as a potent paracrine modulator in a variety of tissues and regulates tissue-speci ic cell differentiation.Ths study aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these two candidate genes (NPY and IGF-1) in a native chicken population of Mizoram, India which is known as 'Zo-ar'.Methods: Isolation of genomic DNA from blood samples.Spectrophotometric and electrophoretic evaluation of extracted DNA samples was done.The samples were then subjected to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) ampli ication and Restriction endonuclease (DraI and PstI for NPY and IGF-1, respectively) digestion by using Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) method.Determination of alleles and genotypes along with statistical analysis of population genetics data were compiled and analyzed using POPGENE 3.1 software for proper conclusion.Results: Both the genes under the study were found to be polymorphic and yielded variable restriction patterns.The NPY locus revealed three genotypes, viz.AA, Aa and aa with the highest frequency of a genotype (0.44) and an allele (0.62).The IGF-1 locus also showed the presence of three genotypes BB (0.16), Bb (0.44) and bb (0.40) with an allelic frequency of 0.62 and 0.38 for b and B alleles, respectively.The population was found to be conforming to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for both the studied loci.The presence of different genotypes in each locus indicated the presence of genetic variation in this chicken population, which may be exploited for their genetic improvement by suitable selection and breeding programmes.