The aim of the study was to investigate pig reference families, generated from Korean native pigs (KNP) that were crossed with Yorkshire (YS) breeds, which were used to evaluate genetic markers to select breeding animals with superior pork quality. A set of five candidate genes (PRKAG3, MC4R, CAST, ESR, and PRLR ) was analyzed for association with pork quality traits. PRKAG3 (I199V) SNP genotypes were significantly associated with muscle moisture, protein, and fat contents.The MC4R D298N polymorphism was significantly associated with meat tenderness and color traits. The CAST polymorphism was significantly associated with muscle moisture and crude protein traits. These three genes have been associated with pork quality traits in other pig populations, and some of our results are consistent with earlier studies. In addition, two reproductive candidate genes (ESR and PRLR ) did not have significant associations. These results suggest that further study is warranted to investigate and develop more DNA markers associated with pork quality in our KNP-crossed pig families.

This study describes a method to avoid the high-pressure problem caused by swelling during the detritylation step in oligonucleotide solid-phase synthesis using a modified RNA-attached polystyrene support. The high-pressure problem originated from the fast flow rate of the reagent and swelling of the solid support was solved by the addition of a pre-swelling step using toluene before the detritylation step. Through this method, 20-mer modified RNA/DNA oligonucleotide was synthesized at 3.0 mmol scale without pressure problems with 2 0 -methoxy uridine polystyrene support, which has a loading capacity of 354 μmol/g. It was confirmed HPLC purity was improved 1.6% and impurities related to depurination were decreased 0.7% in LC-MS through the application of the pre-swelling step. This approach has potential additional advantages like shortening detritylation times, hence helping overall cycle time and increasing the support amount in the column which leads to higher throughput.