Population history of domestic Japanese quail inferred from genome-wide genetic diversity

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K15395
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Integrative animal science
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Mitsuo Nunome 名古屋大学, 生命農学研究科, 研究員 (40609715)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 二ホンウズラ / ミトコンドリアゲノム / ゲノムワイドSNP / 集団遺伝学 / MinION / GRAS-Di / 家禽・家畜動物

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A whole mitogenome sequencing was performed with MinION system of Oxford Nanopore to construct a mitochondrial-genome phylogenetic tree. Subsequently, genome-wide SNP analysis for 89 individuals from 16 populations of wild and domestic quail was conducted with the GRAS-Di method. Whole-genome resequencing was carried out on 10 individuals that were selected based on their high homozygosities.
The mitochondrial genome sequences were divided into two lineage groups, pre-war and post-war quail populations. As a result of genetic clustering using genome-wide SNP by GRAS-Di, it was suggested that commercial quail for egg and meat quail were apparently separated from experimental quail groups. Besides, the whole genome resequencing revealed a genomic regions where showed clear differences between meat and egg quail.

Free Research Field

集団遺伝学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

二ホンウズラは、ニワトリに比べ飼育スペースが小さく、病気にも強いため、特に後進国において広く利用されつつある。本研究では、最新の手法を用いて、全ゲノムレベルで遺伝的多様性を調査し、世界の家禽二ホンウズラ集団の多くは、戦後に小数個体を元に確立された集団の子孫であり、ニワトリほど遺伝的多様性が高くはないことを明らかにした。また、ミトコンドリアDNAやマイクロサテライトDNAを用いることで、農家間の個体導入の歴史をトレースできることも明らかにした。本研究で得られた成果は、今後の二ホンウズラを対象とした農学的・生物学的研究において、対象集団の遺伝的背景を考慮する際に役立つものであると考えている。