Gene Copy Number Detection of AADAT and ZNF622 across Diverse Pig Breeds

Abstract Text: Copy number variations (CNVs) are important forms of genetic variations that could be regarded as promising markers for complex phenotypes in humans and economically significant traits in domestic animals. Here, we identified the gene copies of AADAT and ZNF622 across six pig breeds of Duroc, Yorkshire, Landrace, Meishan, Tibetan and Daweizi. Our findings showed that both AADAT and ZNF622 have gene copies above 8.0 in average in Meishan pigs reaching approximately 2 to 4 times higher than those in the other five breeds, which may account for in part the typical feature of high prolificacy in Meishan pigs. Further work will be required to analyze the genetic effects of high gene copies of these two genes and the findings will be expected to be applied into selection programs for improving reproductive performance in the pig.

Keywords:

copy number variations

genetic marker

high prolificacy

selection programs