AUTHOR=Mott Alexander Charles , Mott Andrea , Preuß Siegfried , Bennewitz Jörn , Tetens Jens , Falker-Gieske Clemens TITLE=eQTL analysis of laying hens divergently selected for feather pecking identifies KLF14 as a potential key regulator for this behavioral disorder JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.969752 DOI=10.3389/fgene.2022.969752 ISSN=1664-8021 ABSTRACT=
Feather pecking in chickens is a damaging behavior, seriously impacting animal welfare and leading to economic losses. Feather pecking is a complex trait, which is partly under genetic control. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the etiology of feather pecking and notably, several studies have identified similarities between feather pecking and human mental disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. This study uses transcriptomic and phenotypic data from 167 chickens to map expression quantitative trait loci and to identify regulatory genes with a significant effect on this behavioral disorder using an association weight matrix approach. From 70 of the analyzed differentially expressed genes, 11,790 genome wide significantly associated variants were detected, of which 23 showed multiple associations (≥15). These were located in proximity to a number of genes, which are transcription regulators involved in chromatin binding, nucleic acid metabolism, protein translation and putative regulatory RNAs. The association weight matrix identified 36 genes and the two transcription factors: