Mitochondria are essential components of eukaryotes as they are involved in several organismic key processes such as energy production, apoptosis and cell growth. Despite their importance for the metabolism and physiology of all eukaryotic organisms, the impact of mitochondrial haplotype variation has only been studied for very few species. In this study we sequenced the mitochondrial genome of 180 individuals from two different strains of laying hens. The resulting haplotypes were combined with performance data such as body weight, feed intake and phosphorus utilization to assess their influence on the hens in five different life stages. After detecting a surprisingly low level of genetic diversity, we investigated the nuclear genetic background to estimate whether the low mitochondrial diversity is representative for the whole genetic background of the strains. Our results highlight the need for more in-depth investigation of the genetic compositions and mito-nuclear interaction in individuals to elucidate the basis of phenotypic performance differences. In addition, we raise the question of how the lack of mitochondrial variation developed, since the mitochondrial genome represents genetic information usually not considered in breeding approaches.
Keywords: body weight; genetic diversity; genotyping; haplotype; phosphorus utilization; population structure; relatedness.