In chickens, the breast and thigh weights are the most essential meat traits that are needed for production efficiency and economic benefits by affecting the appearance of the carcass. It is necessary to identify the specific genetic markers associated with such carcass traits. The use of gene expression is a desirable and reliable process for this purpose. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of expression levels of five genes, FABP7, TPD52L1, NCOA7, GJA1, and ASF1A on breast and thigh weights in native Dokki-4 breed, hybrid Mamourah and Inshas breeds and imported Leghorn breed. Compared to the native breed Dokki-4, the results indicated that the high expression of GJA1 and ASF1A, genes in Mamourah breed as well as the up-regulation of ASF1A gene expression in Inshas and Leghorn breeds were pronounced to be associated with high breast weight. Moreover, the overexpression of FABP7 and GJA1 genes in Mamourah breed and high expression of GJA1 in Inshas and Leghorn breeds were found to be correlated with increasing thigh weight. Whereas, in the native Dokki-4 breed, the high expression of TPD52L1 and NCOA7 genes in breast muscle and ASF1A gene in thigh muscle were accompanied by reducing the weights of such muscles as compared to hybrid and imported chicken breeds. 
In conclusion, the present findings confirmed that the expressions of these genes can be useful genetic markers in chicken breed selection for improving carcass traits through increasing the breast and thigh weights.