Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (<i>LIF</i>) Gene Polymorphism and its Impact on Reproductive Traits of Pigs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequencies of alleles and genotypes of the Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) gene (ID: 399503) in Landrace, Large White and Duroc pigs in Russia and to evaluate the impact on productive traits of pigs. Polymorphism was genotyped using PCR-RFLP method. In the course of studies we observed a different distribution of allele and genotype frequencies of different breeds. In all breeds under study all three genotypes AA, AB, BB were determined. The results of this study suggest that the LIF gene promotes the reproductive traits of pigs. The AA genotype sows compared to BB genotype analogues have better Total Number of Born (TNB) and Number Born Alive (NBA) by 1.4 and 1.3 (p<0.01) in Landrace sows, 1.3 and 0.9 (p<0.05) in Large White and 2.0 and 3.3 (p<0.001) in Duroc, respectively. The AB genotype sows exhibit intermediate values, which testifies the concentration of a favorable A allele in the pig genotype of animals contributing to the fertility. Our research revealed a positive effect of A allele and AA genotype that indicates the possibility to use this polymorphism in improving reproduction traits of sows.

Effect of leukemia inhibitory factor polymorphism on litter size traits in Thai commercial pig breeds

“…The porcine LIF c.*24C was the major allele in these pig populations. These results are agreed with previous studies, which showed that the porcine LIF c.*24C was a major allele in several pig breeds such as German Landrace (Spötter et al, 2009), Large White (Leonova et al, 2015), and four Chinese pig breeds (Ding et al, 2020). However, the porcine LIF c.*24T was the major allele in German synthetic line (Spötter et al, 2005), German Large White (Spötter et al, 2009), Polish Large White and Polish Landrace (Mucha et al, 2013), and Landrace and Duroc (Leonova et al, 2015).…”

“…Moreover, the porcine LIF gene is located closely with the QTL regions for total number born alive (37.5-38.5 Mb), total number born (41.8-42.0 Mb), and total litter weight (56.4-56.6 Mb) (Onteru et al, 2012;Schneider et al, 2012). Additionally, significant associations of the porcine LIF polymorphism with litter traits have been reported in several pig breeds (Spötter et al, 2005;Lin et al, 2009;Spötter et al, 2009;Mucha et al, 2013;Leonova et al, 2015;Ding et al, 2020). All these shreds of evidence indicated that the LIF function was critical for embryonic implantation and embryonic survival.…”

Genomic structure of a crossbred Landrace pig population

“…Reproductive traits have been strongly selected in the last years to increase the production, especially in maternal lines, where the fertility and morphology of the sows are fundamental for a large litter size. Important genes were identified involving reproductive traits such as LIF , which plays a role on total number of piglets born in Landrace, Large White and Duroc breeds [27], and the genes ZNRF3 and KREMEN1 , which have been associated with waist-hip ratio and sexual dimorphism in the genetic basis of fat distribution [28]. Studies with pigs using other methodologies, have also identified significant portions of selection signatures that coincide with loci that control biological processes related to behavioral and reproductive traits, which may have been favored by the selection process [29–30].…”

Polymorphisms in Several Porcine Genes are Associated with Growth Traits

“…The farm specializes in breeding purebred pigs Landrace, Large White and Duroc. The Landrace and Large White breeding are aimed at improving the reproductive traits and Duroc is on growth and meat (Leonova et al, 2015). All pigs were kept under identical and standard conditions.…”