Prof. Hou Shuisheng and his colleagues at the Institute of Animal Science of CAAS published a paper titled "A colony hybridization study reveals the duck size and color-related genes" in Nature Communications. It illustrated the evolutionary process from mallard to Peking duck, identified a major gene IGF2BP1 to control the body size of Peking duck. The findings provide both theoretical and technical foundation for high-yield molecular breeding of farm animals.

Sampling and genomic landscape of the divergence of ducks