Identification of genes related to intramuscular fat independent of backfat thickness in Duroc pigs using single‐step genome‐wide association

Abstract

SummaryIntramuscular fat (IMF) is an important meat‐quality trait of pigs, which influences pork’s shearing force, hydraulics, tenderness and juicy flavor. However, to achieve a higher percentage of lean meat, pigs with lower backfat thickness (BF) are intensively selected for, which may lead to a reduction in pork quality. Therefore, the objective of this study was to locate loci that affect IMF without changing BF. A single‐step GWAS was performed on 950 Duroc pigs genotyped by a 50K SNP chip in order to detect genomic variants relevant to IMF and BF. The significant SNPs detected were afterwards divided into a BF subset (seven SNPs), an IMF subset (11 SNPs) and a subset of both traits (12 SNPs), according to their P‐value and LD. After SNP and QTL annotation, our results indicated that SSC1: 167938652, 166363826, 164829874 and 167171587 might be associated with IMF without changing BF. In the subset of both traits, we found that the combined effect of ALGA0006602 (SSC1: 159538854) and 12784636 (SSC1: 160773437) might improve the IMF without changing BF. Our gene annotation result showed that TLE3, ITGA11, SMAD6, PAQR5 and [RNF152A/G × MC4RA/A] genes might affect IMF independently of BF. We believe that the SNPs and genes identified in this study will be valuable for the future molecular breeding of IMF in Duroc pigs.

Genomic Prediction of Average Daily Gain, Back-Fat Thickness, and Loin Muscle Depth Using Different Genomic Tools in Canadian Swine Populations

“…In Duroc-BFT scenario, BayesCπ (42.4%) and GBLUP (1.11) were the most accurate and least biased methods, respectively. The higher prediction accuracy of BayesCπ for Duroc-BFT scenario might be due to a low number of major-effect SNPs underlying genetic variation of BFT in Duroc breed ( Zhang et al, 2020 ). However, Tukey test showed that the genomic prediction accuracies for BFT were not significantly ( P > 0.05) different across breeds.…”

Effects of dietary nicotinic acid supplementation on meat quality, carcass characteristics, lipid metabolism, and tibia parameters of Wulong geese

“…The success of poultry meat production has been strongly related to improvements in growth and carcass yield, mainly by increasing breast proportion and reducing abdominal fat ( Zerehdaran et al., 2004 ). The content of IMF has become an important meat-quality trait and is positively related with meat flavor, juiciness, and tenderness ( Zhang et al., 2021 ). Our data showed that NA supplementation, especially 80 and 100 mg/kg doses, decreased the thickness of SFS and PAF, and increased the content of IMF and width of IFB, which suggested an appropriate level of NA supplementation might retain IMF while decreasing the undesirable abdominal and subcutaneous fat.…”

Genes Related to Fat Metabolism in Pigs and Intramuscular Fat Content of Pork: A Focus on Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics

“…Certain genes are found to affect IMF deposition independent of backfat in pigs. For instance, Zhang et al [ 112 ], revealed that QTL located on Sus Scrofa (SSC) 1 (167938652, 166363826, 164829874 and 167171587) and transducin-like enhancer of split 3 ( TLE3 ), SMAD family member 6 ( SMAD6 ), progestin and adipoQ receptor family member 5 ( PAQR5 ) and integrin subunit alpha 11 ( ITGA11 ) genes are associatd with IMF content accretion without affecting backfat in Duroc pigs. Such molecular markers are important in pig breeding programs targeted at IMF content improvement in pigs.…”