Genome-wide association study reveals genetic loci and candidate genes for average daily gain in Duroc pigs.

Average daily gain (ADG) is an important target trait of pig breeding programs. We aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and genomic regions that are associated with ADG in the Duroc pig population. We performed a genome-wide association study involving 390 Duroc boars and by using the PorcineSNP60K Beadchip and two linear models. After quality control, we detected 35971 SNPs, which included seven SNPs that are significantly associated with the ADG of pigs. We identified six quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions for ADG. These QTLs included four previously reported QTLs on Sus scrofa chromosome (SSC) 1, SSC5, SSC9, and SSC13, as well as two novel QTLs on SSC6 and SSC16. In addition, we selected six candidate genes (GTF3C5, HMGA2, NAMPT, OLIG1, PLEKHG4B, and ENSSSCG00000031548) associated with ADG on the basis of their physiological roles and positional information. These candidate genes are involved in skeletal muscle cell differentiation, diet-induced obesity, and nervous system development. This study contributes to the identification of the casual mutation that underlies QTLs associated with ADG and to future pig breeding programs based on marker-assisted selection. Further studies are needed to elucidate the role of the identified candidate genes in the physiological processes involved in ADG regulation.

Citation

Jianping Quan, Rongrong Ding, Xingwang Wang, Ming Yang, Yang Yang, Enqin Zheng, Ting Gu, Gengyuan Cai, Zhenfang Wu, Dewu Liu, Jie Yang. Genome-wide association study reveals genetic loci and candidate genes for average daily gain in Duroc pigs. Asian-Australasian journal of animal sciences. 2017 Oct 20

PMID: 29059722

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