International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 44-53 http://ecoevopublisher.com/index.php/ijmec 49 However, things are not without risks. Once they are randomly hybridized with foreign breeds, the original disease-resistant genes may be gradually diluted, and even some of the ability to adapt to the local environment may be lost (Pius et al., 2021). Some people may ask, should we protect these local chickens and prevent them from being improved? In fact, there is no need to go to extremes. Some scientists now propose that we can first find out which genes are related to disease resistance or environmental adaptation, and then do selective breeding on this basis (Banos et al., 2020). In this way, not only can the egg production or growth rate of chickens be increased, but the good genes in them will not be lost. So, in the final analysis, it is not about completely protecting the original state, nor is it about pursuing high yields only, but about finding the difficult but important balance between "improvement" and "preservation". If the poultry industry in East Africa wants to go further, it must consider this point. 6 Challenges and Future Perspectives 6.1 Underrepresentation of certain populations Speaking of which, we have done a lot of research on the chicken genome, but in fact, chickens from many places have not been carefully examined. Some local chickens in Africa, South America, and Asia are often absent from large-scale genetic data. You will find that researchers are more willing to focus on commercial chickens or well-known breeds, and data collection mainly revolves around these (Dementieva et al., 2024). This brings about an embarrassing situation: the global chicken genetic map looks quite rich, but it is actually biased. What's worse is that many genetic resources that we don't know about have been ignored. Think about it, some chickens may be naturally adaptable or have other good genes, but because no one has studied them, their advantages have not been discovered, and there is no talk of using them in breeding or protection (Guo et al., 2021). 6.2 Integrating genomics with phenotypic and ecological data Although we can now collect a lot of genetic information, such as using whole genome resequencing and SNP chip technology to find mutations, it is still difficult to link this data with the chicken's traits and living environment. Many studies do not record the specific environment in which the chickens live, how they are managed, and detailed data on their traits (Li et al., 2017; Menchetti et al., 2024). Without this information, it is difficult to see which characteristics a gene is related to. In order to more accurately identify the genetic reasons for chickens' adaptation to the environment, and to better use genetic information for breeding in different breeding systems, we need to establish a model that can take genes, traits, and ecological environment into consideration (Zhang et al., 2017). 6.3 Ethical and policy considerations Genetic technology is developing rapidly, and it has also brought many new problems. For example, some breeding methods may bring bad mutations or make the population smaller and smaller, which will affect the health of chickens. To avoid these problems, we need to develop more reasonable breeding methods that can increase production without damaging the genetic health of chickens (Wang et al., 2021). Another issue is resource fairness. Some people are worried that the genes of local chickens are taken by big companies without getting the due return. Some people are also worried about the impact of genomic technology on small farmers and traditional farming methods. In the future, we need to establish some international norms and policies to ensure that genetic resources can be used reasonably and long-term, and at the same time, everyone can share the benefits of these resources fairly. There is still a lot to do in chicken genome research, such as expanding the sampling range, strengthening data integration in different fields, and solving ethical and policy issues. Only in this way can these genetic resources be used safely, effectively and fairly. 7 Concluding Remarks Through global genome research, scientists have found that chickens have rich genetic diversity, and chicken breeds in different regions also have complex genetic structures. These diversities are affected by both natural selection and artificial breeding. Now many genes related to plateau, high temperature, low temperature, drought and other environments have been found. These genes are mainly related to energy metabolism, immune system and stress response. There are many special adaptive genes in local chicken breeds in Africa and Asia. The genes
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