Identification and functional characterization of causal genes affecting feather pecking and aggressive pecking in laying hens

啄羽毛和同类相食是家禽生产中的严重问题。它们不仅对经济和环境有负面影响，而且还代表着一个严重的福利问题。最近一个项目的目的是为了更深入地了解啄羽毛的行为学和遗传机制。在该项目中，建立了一个由约950只f2交叉蛋鸡组成的大型实验群体，并对其进行了广泛的行为特征表征。采用相关分析和非参数统计方法研究性状的相关结构。此外，对这些个体进行了60K snp芯片的基因分型，并将这些数据用于全基因组关联分析。发现了几个与啄食行为相关的染色体簇。后续项目被设计为对这些染色体簇进行深入分析。总体目标是通过对影响这些特征的因果基因的定位和功能分析，推导和验证关于蛋鸡啄羽毛和攻击性啄行为的（新）假设。有了这些目标，该项目有助于对蛋鸡啄食行为的基因解剖，并更好地理解这些异常行为模式的动机。此外，它有助于实现精确动物育种框架的目标，这是迫切需要的，因为羽毛啄将很快成为蛋鸡育种目标的一个组成部分。

Feather pecking and cannibalism are serious problems poultry production. They have not only negative economic and environmental implications, but also represents a serious welfare problem. The aims of a recent project were to obtain a deeper understanding of ethological and genetic mechanisms of feather pecking. In that project a large experimental population consisting of about 950 F2-cross laying hens was established and characterized phenotypically for a wide range of behavior traits. The trait interrelation structure was investigated by correlation analyses as well as non-parametric statistics. In addition, the individuals were genotyped for a 60K SNP-chip and these data were used for genome-wide association analyses. Several pecking behavior associated chromosomal clusters were identified. The follow-on project is designed as an in-depth analysis of these chromosomal clusters. The overall aim is to derive and validate (novel) hypotheses with regard to feather pecking and aggressive pecking behavior in laying hens by means of mapping and functional analyses of causal genes affecting these traits. With these aims the project contributes to the genetic dissection of pecking behavior in laying hens and to a better understanding of the motivation for these abnormal behavior patterns. Further, it contributes to the goals of the precision animal breeding framework, which is urgently needed, because feather pecking will be an integral part of laying hen breeding goals soon.