GENETIC DIVERSITY OF MYOGENIN GENE AMONG NIGERIAN LOCALLY ADAPTED CHICKENS

Abstract

Myogenin gene-MYOG is a muscle-specific transcription factor that plays significant roles in the formation of myofibers and regulation of skeletal-muscle growth. The number of embryonically developed myocytes has been linked with carcass yield of farm animals. Thus, unveiling the variation in MYOG among Nigerian indigenous chickens-NIC would provide insight into their potentials as marker for selection for improved performance. This study assessed the genetic diversity in MYOG among NIC populations using PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing procedures. Blood samples were collected from 240 sexually mature chickens (80 from each of Yoruba, Fulani and FUNAAB-Alpha). Genomic DNA was extracted, PCR amplified and digested using Hinf1 and EcoR1 restriction endonucleases. Also, 30 Amplicons (10 from each of Yoruba, Fulani and FUNAAB-Alpha) were selected and sequenced using standard procedures. The sequences obtained were subjected to NCBIBLASTn (http://ncbi.nih.gov/BLAST/) and similar sequences of chicken, goose, turkey and guinea fowl were retrieved. The multiple sequence alignments, Phylogenetic tree and genetic distance were generated using Molecular Evolutionary Genetic Analysis (MEGA) software. The RFLP analysis resulted in a single band across all the studied chicken populations. Multiple sequence alignment showed that the studied NIC had 86%, 88%, 89% and 92% homology with goose, turkey and guinea fowl, respectively. The phylogenetic tree revealed that Yoruba is more closely related to FUNAABAlpha than the Fulani chickens at MYOG locus. The BLASTn results showed that Fulani and FUNAAB-Alpha chickens had 2.00E-59 expect-values with the retrieved MYOG sequence (FJ882411.1). The MYOG/Hinf1 and MYOG/EcoR1 were monomorphic in Yoruba, Fulani and FUNAAB Alpha Chickens.