Abstract：Based on the Molecular genetics to study the causes of the attack behavior of Muscovy ducks (Cairna moschata), the experiment adopted the software of The Medial Recorder 2.0 to record the behaviors of 120 Muscovy ducks in good growth for 1 month (24 h each day). The use of instantaneous observation and continuous observation screening: Muscovy ducks (experimental group), which performed aggressive behavior, and Muscovy duck (normal group), which did not show aggressive behavior. For the selected control and experimental Muscovy ducks, the experiment adopted the Illumina HiSeq 2000 high flux transcriptome sequencing technology to screen the differentially expressed genes in the hypothalamus of Muscovy ducks which were divided into an experimental group and a control group (repeated 3 times in each group). Making use of the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases to screened differentially expressed genes. The differentially expressed genes were enriched in gene ontology and KEGG pathway. The results showed that in the hypothalamus of Muscovy ducks which had the attack behavior, there were 626 differentially expressed genes annotated into the GO database, in which 137 genes were up-regulated and 489 genes were down-regulated. There were 26 differentially expressed genes involved in regulating the attack behavior, in which 4 genes were up-regulated and 22 genes were down-regulated. The results of KEGG annotation showed that the differentially expressed genes were enriched in six pathways, such as Phagosome, Lysosome, Salmonella infection, MAPK signaling pathway, Progesterone mediated oocyte maturation, mTOR signaling pathway and so on. The results also showed that in the Regulation of action cytoskeleton and the Neuroactive ligand receptor interaction, the enrichment of the differentially expressed genes was not significant, but the enrichment was a very large degree. In these pathways, the differentially expressed genes about the attack behavior of Muscovy ducks were screened. By the annotation of GO and KEGG database, 33 candidate genes were initially screened out and their regulatory mechanisms were associated with Muscovy duck attack, the ERBB signaling pathway may be the key pathway for the adjustment of the duck attack behavior. This experiment provides a theoretical basis for the molecular genetics study of the attack behavior of Muscovy ducks.
