RESUMO
Ankyrin 1 (ANK1) is a positional and functional candidate gene for both bovine and porcine meat quality. The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine if the gene expression levels of ANK1 are associated with pig meat quality traits; (2) to examine polymorphisms in the promoter region of the porcine ANK1 gene for association with meat quality in diverse breeds; and (3) to search for putative transcription factor binding sites predicted to be altered by such polymorphisms. ANK1 gene expression was positively correlated with drip loss (%) in the Large White breed. Twelve novel SNPs were discovered in a 761 bp region of the ANK1 promoter in three phenotypically diverse F1 cross populations. Five were subsequently selected for association analysis with meat quality traits and genotyped in three pure pig breeds (Pietrain n = 98, Duroc n = 99 and Large White n = 98). Two of these five SNPs were associated with meat quality traits at the Bonferroni significance threshold: g.-606G>A with drip loss % in the Pietrain breed and g.-272G>A with intramuscular fat (IMF) in the LTL and SM. Following haplotype construction from SNP genotypes, Haplotype 3 was found to be associated with drip loss % at the Bonferroni level of significance in the Pietrain breed and Haplotype 5 was associated at the Bonferroni level with IMF in two muscles in the Large White breed. Further associations were observed at the nominal significance threshold. Our conclusion from this study is that SNPs in the ANK1 gene promoter could potentially contribute to genome-assisted selection SNP panels to improve IMF and water holding capacity on a breed basis.
Assuntos
Adiposidade/genética , Anquirinas/genética , Proteínas do Citoesqueleto/genética , Músculos/metabolismo , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único/genética , Regiões Promotoras Genéticas/genética , Sus scrofa/genética , Animais , Anquirinas/metabolismo , Sequência de Bases , Cruzamento , Bovinos , Cruzamentos Genéticos , Feminino , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Frequência do Gene/genética , Estudos de Associação Genética , Técnicas de Genotipagem , Haplótipos/genética , Heterozigoto , Análise dos Mínimos Quadrados , Masculino , Carne/normas , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Característica Quantitativa Herdável , RNA Mensageiro/genética , RNA Mensageiro/metabolismo , Análise de Regressão , Água/metabolismoRESUMO
There is a need for genetic markers or biomarkers that can predict resistance towards a wide range of infectious diseases, especially within a health environment typical of commercial farms. Such markers also need to be heritable under these conditions and ideally correlate with commercial performance traits. In this study, we estimated the heritabilities of a wide range of immune traits, as potential biomarkers, and measured their relationship with performance within both specific pathogen-free (SPF) and non-SPF environments. Immune traits were measured in 674 SPF pigs and 606 non-SPF pigs, which were subsets of the populations for which we had performance measurements (average daily gain), viz. 1549 SPF pigs and 1093 non-SPF pigs. Immune traits measured included total and differential white blood cell counts, peripheral blood mononuclear leucocyte (PBML) subsets (CD4+ cells, total CD8alpha+ cells, classical CD8alphabeta+ cells, CD11R1+ cells (CD8alpha+ and CD8alpha-), B cells, monocytes and CD16+ cells) and acute phase proteins (alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP), haptoglobin, C-reactive protein (CRP) and transthyretin). Nearly all traits tested were heritable regardless of health status, although the heritability estimate for average daily gain was lower under non-SPF conditions. There were also negative genetic correlations between performance and the following immune traits: CD11R1+ cells, monocytes and the acute phase protein AGP. The strength of the association between performance and AGP was not affected by health status. However, negative genetic correlations were only apparent between performance and monocytes under SPF conditions and between performance and CD11R1+ cells under non-SPF conditions. Although we cannot infer causality in these relationships, these results suggest a role for using some immune traits, particularly CD11R1+ cells or AGP concentrations, as predictors of pig performance under the lower health status conditions associated with commercial farms.
Assuntos
Imunidade Adaptativa/genética , Nível de Saúde , Imunidade Inata/genética , Padrões de Herança/genética , Sus scrofa/imunologia , Proteínas de Fase Aguda/análise , Criação de Animais Domésticos/métodos , Animais , Marcadores Genéticos/genética , Contagem de Leucócitos/veterinária , Subpopulações de Linfócitos/imunologia , Organismos Livres de Patógenos Específicos , Sus scrofa/genética , Sus scrofa/crescimento & desenvolvimentoRESUMO
Acute phase proteins (APP) are used as markers of inflammation and sub-clinical disease and are considered potential biomarkers for pig health and welfare. However, reference ranges for their baseline concentrations are necessary before their use can be considered in routine herd health. In this study, C-reactive protein (CRP), haptoglobin (Hp), pig-major acute-phase protein (Pig-MAP) and transthyretin (TTR) baseline concentrations were determined in boars from a high health commercial herd and differences between seven commercial breeding lines within the herd were investigated. Reference ranges of 3.6-183 mg/L for CRP, 0.01-1.31 g/L for Hp, 0.32-2.9 g/L for Pig-MAP and 174-610 mg/L for TTR were found. Correlations were determined between Hp and CRP, Hp and Pig-MAP and CRP and Pig-MAP. Additionally, significant differences were found among the concentrations of CRP, Pig-MAP and TTR in seven commercial breeding lines.