Genome-wide association studies and mapping of ROH identifies candidate genes for growth traits in hybrid rabbits

Screening and identifying genes related to growth traits are critically important for the production of meat rabbits. Genome-wide association studies is an effective method for large-scale screening of genetic markers related to target traits. However, the performance of whole-genome association studies in meat rabbits candidate genes associated with the heterosis remains largely unknown. In this study, after quality control and filtering of genotype data, a total of 380 F2 hybrid rabbits (205 male rabbits, 175 female rabbits) with 78579 SNPs and 42018 ROH on the autosome were obtained. The phenotypic values and heterosis of 380 F2 hybrid rabbits at seven growth stages were compared and analyzed. The fitting of the Logistic growth curve model indicated that the rabbit at 49 days of age was a growth inflection point. At this time, the correlation between weight heterosis and ROH was − 0.1267 to 0.07436. Ultimately, we conducted a genome-wide association studies of genotypes and growth trait heterosis after quality control using a mixed linear model. A total of 10 significant SNP-sites were significantly associated with weight at 84 days of age, and 7 candidate genes associated with growth traits were identified in meat rabbits. Additionally, we also uncovering the functional roles and positions of 20 candidate genes associated with economic traits of meat rabbits in high-frequency ROH regions. This study identified potential genes related to meat rabbit growth, development and adaptability in high-frequency ROH regions. These research findings will provide a genomic reference and new insights for the selection and improvement of hybrid meat rabbits, as well as useful genetic markers for breeding important economic traits in domestic rabbits.