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. 2025 May 27;16(6):637.
doi: 10.3390/genes16060637.

Identification of Novel Genetic Loci Involved in Testis Traits of the Jiangxi Local Breed Based on GWAS Analyses

Jing-E Ma  1 , Ke Huang  1 , Bahareldin Ali Abdalla Gibril  1 , Xinwei Xiong  1 , Yanping Wu  2 , Zhangfeng Wang  1 , Jiguo Xu  1
Affiliations

Identification of Novel Genetic Loci Involved in Testis Traits of the Jiangxi Local Breed Based on GWAS Analyses

Jing-E Ma et al. Genes (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: The testis, a critical reproductive organ in male animals, is responsible for sperm production and androgen secretion. Testis weight often correlates with reproductive performance, yet the genetic factors influencing testicular traits in chickens remain unclear.

Methods: Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified key genes affecting testicular traits in Kangle Yellow chickens, along with the associated regulatory pathways and Gene Ontology (GO) terms, through bioinformatic analyses. In this study, we utilized the existing literature, full-length transcriptome data, and proteome analyses to select key candidate genes.

Results: We identified 13 associated markers for chicken testicular traits with 262 candidate genes. Nine candidate genes were found to regulate chicken testicular traits referred to integrated analysis, including CDH3, ZFPM1, CFAP52, ST6GAL1, IGF2BP2, SPG7, CDT1, NFAT5, and OPRK1. Physical interactions among these genes were also observed, implicating mechanisms such as cell adhesion molecules and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction.

Conclusions: These findings provide a genetic basis for improving testicular traits in Chinese native chicken breeds.

Keywords: GWAS; bioinformatic analyses; candidate genes; chicken; testis weight.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Manhattan and quantile–quantile (Q−Q) plots of GWAS results for six testicular traits in the Kangle Yellow chicken. The X−axis represents the chromosomes, and the Y−axis shows the corresponding −log10 p value. Abbreviations: RTW = right testis weight, LTW = left testis weight, TW= total testis weight, LTWP = testis percentage of left testis, RTWP = testis percentage of right testis, and TWP = testis percentage of total testis weight.
Figure 2
Figure 2
mRNA expression analysis of the six candidate genes identified by GWAS in Kangle Yellow chickens. (A–D) MAML2, OPRK1, ATP6V1H, and MRPL15 are differently expressed in hypothalamus tissue between the High and Light testis groups. (E,F) GAS8 and ERICH1 are expressed differently in testis tissue between the High and Light testis groups.* means p < 0.05, ** means p < 0.01, *** means p < 0.001, ns means p > 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Result of gene interaction analysis of identified genes. The deeper color and bigger size of the plot represent the higher degree of the genes, and the thicker edge shows the closer of two genes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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