Harry Griffin

Segregation of QTL for production traits in commercial meat-type chickens.

This study investigated whether quantitative trait loci (QTL) identified in experimental crosses of chickens provide a short cut to the identification of QTL in commercial populations. A commercial population of broilers was targeted for chromosomal regions in which QTL for traits associated with meat production have previously been detected in extreme crosses. A three-generation design, consisting of 15 grandsires, 608 half-sib hens and over 15 000 third-generation offspring, was implemented within the existing breeding scheme of a broiler breeding company. The first two generations were typed for 52 microsatellite markers spanning regions of nine chicken chromosomes and covering a total of 730 cM, approximately one-fifth of the chicken genome. Using half-sib analyses with a multiple QTL model, linkage was studied between these regions and 17 growth and carcass traits. Out of 153 trait x region comparisons, 53 QTL exceeded the threshold for genome-wide significance while an additional 23 QTL were significant at the nominal 1% level. Many of the QTL affect the carcass proportions and feed intake, for which there are few published studies. Given intensive selection for efficient growth in broilers for more than 50 generations it is surprising that many QTL affecting these traits are still segregating. Future fine-mapping efforts could elucidate whether ancestral mutations are still segregating as a result of pleiotropic effects on fitness traits or whether this variation is due to new mutations.

DNA microsatellite analysis of Dolly.

Dolly, the first animal cloned from an adult mammal, was produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer from a cell population derived from mammary tissue taken from a 6-year-old Finn Dorset ewe. Analysis of DNA from Dolly showed that she contained the same seven microsatellite alleles as those present in the cell population from which she was derived. Here we report a more detailed microsatellite analysis, which confirms the origin of Dolly.

Changes in plasma lipoprotein metabolism in chicks in response to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

The results of the present study strongly suggest that the hypertriglyceridaemia in chicks treated with Aroclor 1254 is a result of reduction in VLDL clearance rather than an increase in rate of VLDL secretion. The decrease in post-heparin LPL activity responsible for reduced VLDL clearance may be mediated by cytokines produced by chronic activation of the immune system.