Regulatory function and effective variation identification of egg-laying related candidate gene ANK2 in chickens
- 1College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, 453003, China
Abstract
Though numerous egg-laying-related candidate genes and loci have been uncovered, most studies merely establish phenotypic correlations, lacking functional verification and variant identification, which limits molecular breeding application. This study systematically investigated the regulatory function and effective functional variations of the laying-related candidate gene Ankyrin 2 (ANK2) in chickens. First, through population genetic analysis and multi-type GWAS analysis based on ANK2 genomic region, we confirmed that ANK2 underwent strong artificial selection during chicken domestication and laying-oriented breeding, and multiple SNPs of this gene were significantly associated with egg number and clutch traits, demonstrating the genetic basis of ANK2 as a key candidate gene for chicken egg-laying traits. Expression characteristic analysis in hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis showed that ANK2 was only differentially expressed in ovaries of the high- and low-laying hens, with its ovarian expression positively correlated with egg-laying traits, and was dynamically expressed during follicular development. Further, knockdown of ANK2 altered the transcriptome of chicken ovarian granulosa cells, suppressed steroid synthesis-related genes and progesterone secretion, and inhibited granulosa cell proliferation and differentiation. Finally, three candidate effective variations of ANK2 were screened from two indigenous chicken breeds, and one SNP chr4:56869062C>T was verified to help account for the differences in egg-laying phenotypes among chicken populations by regulating ANK2 expression, with its C allele enriched in high-laying breeds. This research provides functional gene and molecular marker resources for chicken laying performance molecular breeding.
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BibTeX
@article{zhu2026regulatory,
title = {{Regulatory function and effective variation identification of egg-laying related candidate gene ANK2 in chickens}},
author = {Yiqian Zhu and Qiuhong Fu and Cancan Liu and Yanchun Yu and Jiyuan Shen and Baoguo Liu and Guanghui Wei and Dandan Wang},
journal = {Poultry Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.psj.2026.107953},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2026.107953},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Regulatory function and effective variation identification of egg-laying related candidate gene ANK2 in chickens
AU - Yiqian Zhu
AU - Qiuhong Fu
AU - Cancan Liu
AU - Yanchun Yu
AU - Jiyuan Shen
AU - Baoguo Liu
AU - Guanghui Wei
AU - Dandan Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/11
JO - Poultry Science
DO - 10.1016/j.psj.2026.107953
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2026.107953
AB - Though numerous egg-laying-related candidate genes and loci have been uncovered, most studies merely establish phenotypic correlations, lacking functional verification and variant identification, which limits molecular breeding application. This study systematically investigated the regulatory function and effective functional variations of the laying-related candidate gene Ankyrin 2 (ANK2) in chickens. First, through population genetic analysis and multi-type GWAS analysis based on ANK2 genomic region, we confirmed that ANK2 underwent strong artificial selection during chicken domestication and laying-oriented breeding, and multiple SNPs of this gene were significantly associated with egg number and clutch traits, demonstrating the genetic basis of ANK2 as a key candidate gene for chicken egg-laying traits. Expression characteristic analysis in hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis showed that ANK2 was only differentially expressed in ovaries of the high- and low-laying hens, with its ovarian expression positively correlated with egg-laying traits, and was dynamically expressed during follicular development. Further, knockdown of ANK2 altered the transcriptome of chicken ovarian granulosa cells, suppressed steroid synthesis-related genes and progesterone secretion, and inhibited granulosa cell proliferation and differentiation. Finally, three candidate effective variations of ANK2 were screened from two indigenous chicken breeds, and one SNP chr4:56869062C>T was verified to help account for the differences in egg-laying phenotypes among chicken populations by regulating ANK2 expression, with its C allele enriched in high-laying breeds. This research provides functional gene and molecular marker resources for chicken laying performance molecular breeding.
SN - 0032-5791
SN - 1525-3171
ER -