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An excessively rapid growth rate in meat ducks can result in excessive body size, which may hinder subsequent processing and slaughter operations. However, only a few molecular markers related to body size have been studied in meat ducks. In this study, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify candidate genes and QTLs affecting body length (BL), keel bone length (KBL), neck length (NL), and breast width (BrW) in Pekin ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domestica). Our results indicate the significant SNP for NL is located within a pseudogene, whereas the significant SNP for BrW is located in an intergenic region. More importantly, our analysis identified a haplotype that was significantly associated with both BL and KBL. This haplotype, containing 48 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), is localized within the XKR4 gene. The identification of this haplotype suggests that XKR4 may be a key candidate gene influencing BL and KBL in Pekin ducks. These findings have important implications for the breeding and genetic improvement of Pekin ducks, and provide valuable insights into the genetic architecture of body size traits in this species.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani14162349","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,14]],"date-time":"2024-08-14T09:20:51Z","timestamp":1723627251000},"page":"2349","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Genome-Wide Association Analysis Identifies Important Haplotypes and Candidate Gene XKR4 for Body Size Traits in Pekin Ducks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Jiang-Zhou","family":"Yu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of the Ministry of Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jun","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of the Ministry of Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fang-Xi","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beijing Nankou Duck Breeding Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 102202, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jin-Ping","family":"Hao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beijing Nankou Duck Breeding Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 102202, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhuo-Cheng","family":"Hou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of the Ministry of Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0629-1924","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Feng","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of the Ministry of Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jalaludeen, A., Churchil, R., and Baeza, E. 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