Does genome-wide SNP scan of pooled DNA reveal nonsense mutation in FGF20 in the scaleless line of featherless chickens?
This work represents the first loss of function genetic evidence supporting a role for FGF ligand signalling in feather development, and suggests FGF20 as a novel central player in the development of vertebrate skin appendages, including hair follicles and exocrine glands. In addition, this is to our knowledge the first report describing the use of the chicken SNP array to map genes based on genotyping of DNA samples from pooled whole blood. The identification of the sc mutation has important implications for the future breeding of this potentially useful trait for the poultry industry, and our genotyping assay can facilitate its rapid introgression into production lines.
Although several associations between quality indicators and benchmarked access time intervals for colorectal cancer patients were identified, the relationship between quality and access is complex and far from universal. It is therefore clear that quality care and timely access are not synonymous, and that both must be studied to improve colorectal cancer care.