Abstract. Facial pigmentation is an important economic trait of
chickens, especially for laying hens, which will affect the carcass
appearance of eliminated layers. Therefore, identifying the genomic regions
and exploring the function of this region that contributes to understanding the
variation of skin color traits is significant for breeding. In the study,
291 pure-line Xinyang blue-shelled laying hens were selected, of which 75 were
dark-faced chickens and 216 were white-faced chickens. The population was
sequenced and typed by GBS genotyping technology. The obtained high-quality
SNPs and pigmentation phenotypes were analyzed by a genome-wide association
study (GWAS) and a FST scan. Based on the two analytical methods, we
identified a same genomic region (10.70–11.60 Mb) on chromosome 20 with 68
significant SNPs (−log 10(P)>6), mapped to 10 known genes,
including NPEPL1, EDN3, GNAS, C20orf85, VAPB, BMP7, TUBB1, ELMO2, DDX27, and NCOA5, which are associated with dermal
hyperpigmentation.