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Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identify a QTL close to PRKAG3 affecting meat pH and colour in crossbred commercial pig lines
Improving meat quality is a high priority in the pork industry to enhance profitability and strengthen competitiveness. Meat pH and colour are two important measurements affecting meat quality. This study detected a promising genomic region on chromosome 15 affecting fresh (FpH24h) and thawed (TMpH) muscle pH, and fat colour b* (FCOL b*) by genome-wide association. Eight significant SNPs were confirmed affecting these traits. The most favorable one (SNP7) which is close to PRKAG3 explained 2.15%, 2.69% and 4.29% of the total phenotypic variance for the three traits. Three SNPs were intragenic with TNS1, NRAMP1 and PLCD4, and another four are close to RUFY4, CXCR2, SNORA42, mir375 and WNT10A. These results provide useful genomic information for marker assisted selection (MAS) on meat pH and colour. The MAS response and genomic architecture of this region need further investigation.
Keywords:
Pork quality
Genome-wide association
Candidate gene identification
