About the Authors

Lan Li

Affiliation College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

Jing-Cai Liu

Affiliations College of Life Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China, College of Animal Science and Technology, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction and Germplasm Enhancement in Universities of Shandong, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

Fang-Nong Lai

Affiliations College of Life Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China, College of Animal Science and Technology, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction and Germplasm Enhancement in Universities of Shandong, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

Huan-Qi Liu

Affiliation College of Animal Science and Technology, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction and Germplasm Enhancement in Universities of Shandong, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

Xi-Feng Zhang

Affiliation College of Animal Science and Technology, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction and Germplasm Enhancement in Universities of Shandong, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

Paul W. Dyce

Affiliation Department of Animal Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849, United States of America

Wei Shen

Affiliation College of Animal Science and Technology, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction and Germplasm Enhancement in Universities of Shandong, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

Hong Chen

chenhong1212@263.net; gcb410412@163.com

Affiliation College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: WS HC. Performed the experiments: LL J-CL F-NL H-QL X-FZ. Analyzed the data: LL J-CL F-NL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: WS. Wrote the paper: PWD WS HC.