Interpretive Summary: Identify known and novel candidate genes associated with backfat thickness in Duroc pigs by large-scale genomewide association analysis

By: Rongrong Ding, Zhanwei Zhuang, Yibin Qiu, Donglin Ruan, Jie Wu, Jian Ye,  Shenping Zhou, Enqin Zheng, Wen Huang

Backfat thickness (BFT) is a complex and economically important trait in the pig industry because it reflects fat deposition and can be used to measure the carcass lean meat percentage in pigs. In this study, two Duroc populations were genotyped using SNP chips, and genome-wide association  analysis was used to  identify SNPs  and candidate genes  related to BFT.  A number of  genetic markers and  candidate genes including MC4R,  RYR1,  HMGA1,  NUDT3,  SIRT2,  NKAIN2,  AMH,  SORCS1, and  SORCS3  were identified to be significantly related to BFT. Our data suggest that many of the candidate genes can be directly used for genetic improvement through molecular markers.

The full article can be found on the Journal of Animal Science.