Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (4): 1403-1414.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2023.04.006

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Weighted Single-step GWAS of Eye Muscle Area, Predicted Lean Meat Percentage and Average Backfat Thickness in A Yorkshire Pig Population

WU Jun1, CAI Xiaodian1, LIN Qing1, ZHONG Zhanming1, YE Haoqiang1, WEI Chen1, XU Zhiting1, WU Xibo2, SI Jinglei2, ZHANG Zhe1, LI Jiaqi1*   

  1. 1. National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China;
    2. Guangxi Guiken Animal Husbandry Co. LTD., Nanning 530022, China
  • Received:2022-07-19 Online:2023-04-23 Published:2023-04-27

Abstract: The purpose was to explore candidate genes related to the eye muscle area, predicted lean meat percentage and average backfat thickness of Large White pigs by using the weighted single-step genome wide association study and making full use of the phenotype, pedigree and genotype information of the population. The phenotypic record data of eye muscle area, predicted lean meat percentage and average backfat thickness of 21 754 Large White pigs were collected, including 1 259 individuals with genotype data. Through analysis of variance and the weighted single-step genome wide association study, quantitative trait loci (QTL) that are significantly related to traits were determined. The gene annotation, gene ontology (GO) and kyoto Encyclopedia of genes and genes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were carried out. The results showed that the heritability of eye muscle area, predicted lean meat percentage and average backfat thickness in Yorkshire pigs were 0.450 6±0.017 3, 0.496 8±0.017 4 and 0.475 8±0.017 2, respectively. Using the weighted single-step genome wide association study, 10 candidate QTL regions significantly associated with eye muscle area, 8 candidate QTL regions significantly associated with predicted lean meat percentage, and 12 candidate QTL regions significantly associated with average backfat thickness were localized. Follow-up gene annotation, GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed 36 candidate genes significantly associated with eye muscle area, with a total of 7 terms enriched; 29 candidate genes significantly associated with predicted lean meat percentage, with a total of 2 terms enriched; and 41 candidate genes significantly associated with average backfat thickness, with a total of 11 terms enriched. Analysis of the genes contained in these terms showed that some of these candidate genes were associated with growth and development, muscle fat and bone development. For example, ADAL gene affects adipocyte differentiation and other activities; FGF9 gene is reported to be involved in bone development and other processes. In this study, the important candidate genes related to growth traits of Yorkshire pigs were located through the weighted single-step genome wide association study. The results extended the related research of growth traits of Yorkshire pigs, and provide important molecular markers for genetic improvement of growth traits in the future.

Key words: Yorkshire pigs, eye muscle area, predicted lean meat percentage, average backfat thickness, weighted single-step GWAS

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