Multidimensional GWAS analyses on longitudinal phenotypes reveal candidate genes regulating multi-stage egg production traits in Wannan yellow chicken

Abstract

Egg production performance directly determines the economic viability of indigenous chicken breeding. However, the genetic regulation of multi-stage egg production traits remains difficult to characterize due to their complex and dynamic nature. Here, we integrated a multidimensional GWAS framework, including single-trait GWAS, multi-trait GWAS (MTAG), and longitudinal trajectory-based GWAS (TrajGWAS), to identify stage-specific and shared genetic effects underlying egg production traits in Wannan yellow chickens (WNY). Whole-genome sequencing of 354 WNY hens (10× depth) and quality control yielded 14,253,816 SNPs for analysis. Selective sweep analyses comparing red jungle fowl, commercial layers, and WNY identified a genomic region containing IGF1 under significant selection pressure. Single-trait GWAS identified SNPs 4_57990480 (BMPR1B) and 17_370912 (LOC112531479) associated with egg production across three laying stages (21-30, 31-40, and 21-40 weeks). MTAG further identified loci 8_4336468 (FASLG) and 21_654726 (CHD5) with shared effects across the laying period, whereas TrajGWAS revealed longitudinal associations involving PRKG1 and identified dynamic loci associated with clutch traits, including GRID1. For clutch traits, stage-specific loci were detected for average clutch size (ACS) and maximum clutch size (MCS), including SNP 8_8542036 at 21-30 weeks, PROK1 at 31-40 weeks, and CUL5, ALKBH8 across the entire laying period. These results demonstrate that integrating complementary GWAS strategies improves the resolution of genetic architecture underlying egg production traits by capturing trait-specific, shared, and stage-dependent genetic effects. The identified GWAS loci and selective-sweep candidate regions provide insights into the genetic architecture of egg production traits and breed differentiation.