OMIA:003095-9031 : Triple comb in Gallus gallus (chicken) |
Categories: Craniofacial phene
Links to possible relevant human trait(s) and/or gene(s) in OMIM: 620843 (gene)
Single-gene trait/disorder: yes
Disease-related: no
Key variant known: yes
Year key variant first reported: 2026
Molecular basis:
Luo (2021) reported in a PhD thesis a 15.7-kb duplication upstream of HSF5 that is associated with deer-antler comb in Hetian chickens.
Huang et al. (2026) performed whole-genome resequencing of 291 Wuhua Yellow chickens, mapped the triple comb phenotype to chromosome 19 and used long read sequencing to identify "a tandem duplication spanning chr19: 784,394–800,058 in triple-comb individuals ... . Breakpoint-spanning reads established a head-to-tail arrangement of duplicated units and identified an 18-bp junction sequence connecting the two copies. Comparison with the reference genome revealed that the duplicated unit was 43 bp longer than the corresponding reference region due to several small insertions ... . ... Duplication carriers exhibited elevated copy numbers across the interval, with a significant positive correlation between HSF5 copy number and comb prong number. Consistently, the copy number also differed significantly across the comb morphological categories."
Breeds:
Hetian, China (Chicken) (VBO_0006686),
Wuhua chicken, China (Chicken) (VBO_0006766).
Breeds in which the phene or likely causal variants have been documented. If a likely causal variant has been documented, see variant-specific breed information in the variant table. (Breed information may be incomplete).
Associated gene:
| Symbol | Description | Species | Chr | Location | OMIA gene details page | Other Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSF5 | heat shock transcription factor 5 | Gallus gallus | 19 | NC_052550.1 (1133700..1106911) | HSF5 | Ensembl, NCBI gene |
Variants
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WARNING! Inclusion of a variant in this table does not automatically mean that it should be used for DNA testing. Anyone contemplating the use of any of these variants for DNA testing should examine critically the relevant evidence (especially in breeds other than the breed in which the variant was first described). If it is decided to proceed, the location and orientation of the variant sequence should be checked very carefully.
Since October 2021, OMIA includes a semiautomated lift-over pipeline to facilitate updates of genomic positions to a recent reference genome position. These changes to genomic positions are not always reflected in the ‘acknowledgements’ or ‘verbal description’ fields in this table.
| OMIA Variant ID | Breed(s) | Variant Phenotype | Gene | Allele | Variant Type | Variant Effect | Source of Genetic Variant | AVCG Pathogenicity Classification* | Reference Sequence | Chr. | g. or m. | c. or n. | p. | Verbal Description | EVA ID | Year Published | PubMed ID(s) | Acknowledgements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Hetian, China (Chicken) Wuhua chicken, China (Chicken) | Triple comb | HSF5 | duplication | Naturally occurring variant | Not currently evaluated | GRCg6a | 19 | A tandem duplication spanning chr19: 784,394–800,058 with an 18-bp junction sequence connecting the two copies -the duplicated unit was 43 bp longer than the corresponding reference region | 2026 | 42840553 |
* Variant pathogenicity for single-gene diseases as evaluated according to the Animal Variant Classification Guidelines (AVCG) by the Variant Pathogenicity Working Group of the International Society of Animal Genetics (ISAG) Animal Genetic Testing Standardization (AGTS) Standing Committee: P = pathogenic, LP = likely pathogenic, VUS = variant of unknown significance, LB = likely benign, B = benign. For more information (including details on the classification of each variant) see LINKS.
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Cite this entry
Nicholas, F. W., Tammen, I., & Sydney Informatics Hub. (2026). OMIA:003095-9031: Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) [dataset]. https://omia.org/. https://doi.org/10.25910/2AMR-PV70
References
Note: the references are listed in reverse chronological order (from the most recent year to the earliest year), and alphabetically by first author within a year.
| 2026 | Huang, X.H., Zhang, Z.F., Zhong, Z.P., Weng, Z.X., Xu, Y.J., Zhong, G.H., Li, W.N., Wang, Q., Du, B.W., Peng, M.S., Ma, C. : |
| Tandem duplication upstream of HSF5 associates with transcript remodeling and triple-comb morphology in chickens. iScience 29:117678, 2026. Pubmed reference: 42840553. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117678. | |
| 2021 | Luo, W. : |
| Genome diversity of Chinese indigenous chicken and the selective signatures in gamecock and antler-comb chickens. PhD thesis. South China Agricultural University , 2021. |
Edit History
- Created by Imke Tammen on 13 Oct 2026
- Changed by Imke Tammen on 13 Oct 2026