The Association of DMD Gene with Productive Traits of Russian Landrace Pigs

Stress syndrome is a significant problem for pig producers. One of the genetic factors responsible for porcine stress-sensitivity is a mutation C→T resulted in R1958W amino acid substitution in the dystrophin (DMD) gene, which is localized on the X chromosome. Recent studies have shown the association of T allele with the appearance of stress syndrome in Landrace pigs. The aim of this work was study the effect of DMD gene polymorphism on the variability of growing capacity and carcass traits in Russian Landrace pigs. Polymorphism C→T in DMD gene was determined by pyrosequencing. Among 507 pigs, 76 (14.99%) were detected as heterozygous carriers of the mutant allele T, and 431 (85.01%) were homozygous for C allele. Productive traits of 9329 offspring of 66 boars (15 boars were the carriers of mutant T allele and 51 boars were the non-carriers) were analyzed using two-way cross-classification model with interaction. Variance analysis showed a statistically significant effect of the factor «DMD genotype of boar» on the traits variability in their offspring: body weight at the end of growing period (p<0.05), the average daily gain from birth to the statement on the growing (p<0.01), the average daily gain during growing period, the average daily gain for the entire period, the carcass meat content, the back fat thickness and muscle deeps (p<0.001). The interaction between «DMD genotype of boar × offspring sex» had a significant effect on the variability of two traits: the back fat thickness and the carcass meat content (p<0.05). Offspring of boars, which are the carriers of the mutant T allele, were characterized by lower back fat and higher carcass meat content comparing to non-carriers. Thus, pig breeding for productive traits can lead to the increase of the frequency of T allele of DMD gene, due to its positive associations with some productive traits. To avoid the T allele of DMD gene from breeding herds, the DNA diagnostics is necessary This work is carried out in the framework of the fundamental research (14: 0600-2016-0005)