Identification of Genomic Regions Associated with Swine Growth

Abstract Text: Growth is one of the most economically important traits for commercial swine producers.  The objective of this study was to identify genomic regions associated with growth in Landrace, Yorkshire, and a commercial crossbred population using Duroc sires and Landrace/Yorkshire F1 females. A 4 Mb window on chromosome 1 explained over 11% of the genetic variance for age at 100kg when Landrace and Yorkshire populations were analyzed jointly. In general, the effects of this region, evaluated using 3 different SNPs with high R²values based on window specific genomic estimated breeding values, were significant in all 3 populations and of similar magnitude for age at 100kg and off-test weight. Linkage disequilibrium between these SNPs across populations ranged from 0.27 to 0.93. Melanocortin-4 receptor gene is within the 4 Mb window. The effects of this region in the current populations were similar to those for MC4R.

Keywords:

Swine

Growth

GWAS