Wei Jialin, Sun Jingchun, Pan Yi, Cao Minghao, Wang Yulong, Yuan Tiantian, Guo Ao, Han Ruihua, Ding Xiangdong, Yang Gongshe, Yu Taiyong, Ding Rongrong
Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, Laboratory of Animal Fat Deposition & Muscle Development, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China.
Key Laboratory of Agroecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, 410125, Hunan, China.
BMC Genomics. 2024 Dec 18;25(1):1217. doi: 10.1186/s12864-024-11109-0.
Teat number is one of the most important indicators to evaluate the lactation performance of sows, and increasing the teat number has become an important method to improve the economic efficiency of farms. Therefore, it is particularly important to deeply analyze the genetic mechanism of teat number traits in pigs. In this study, we detected Single Nucleotide Ploymorphism (SNP), Insertion-Deletion (InDel) and Structural variant (SV) by high-coverage whole-genome resequencing data, and selected teat number at birth and functional teat number as two types of teat number traits for genome-wide association study (GWAS) to reveal candidate genes associated with pig teat number traits.
In this study, we used whole genome resequencing data from 560 Yorkshire sows to detect SNPs, InDels and SVs, and performed GWAS for the traits of born teat number and functional teat number, and detected a total of 85 significant variants and screened 214 candidate genes, including HEG1, XYLT1, SULF1, MUC13, VRTN, RAP1A and NPVF. Among them, HEG1 and XYLT1 were the new candidate genes in this study. The co-screening and population validation of multiple traits suggested that HEG1 may have a critical effect on the born teat number.
Our study shows that more candidate genes associated with pig teat number traits can be identified by GWAS with different variant types. Through large population validation, we found that HEG1 may be a new key candidate gene affecting pig teat number traits. In conclusion, the results of this study provide new information for exploring the genetic mechanisms affecting pig teat number traits and genetic improvement of pigs.
乳头数是评估母猪泌乳性能的最重要指标之一，增加乳头数已成为提高猪场经济效益的重要方法。因此，深入分析猪乳头数性状的遗传机制尤为重要。在本研究中，我们通过高覆盖度全基因组重测序数据检测单核苷酸多态性（SNP）、插入缺失（InDel）和结构变异（SV），并选择出生时乳头数和有效乳头数这两种乳头数性状进行全基因组关联研究（GWAS），以揭示与猪乳头数性状相关的候选基因。
在本研究中，我们利用560头大白母猪的全基因组重测序数据检测SNP、InDel和SV，并对出生时乳头数和有效乳头数性状进行GWAS，共检测到85个显著变异，筛选出214个候选基因，包括HEG1、XYLT1、SULF1、MUC13、VRTN、RAP1A和NPVF。其中，HEG1和XYLT1是本研究中的新候选基因。多性状的共同筛选和群体验证表明，HEG1可能对出生时乳头数有关键影响。
我们的研究表明，通过对不同变异类型进行GWAS可以鉴定出更多与猪乳头数性状相关的候选基因。通过大群体验证，我们发现HEG1可能是影响猪乳头数性状的一个新的关键候选基因。总之，本研究结果为探索影响猪乳头数性状的遗传机制和猪的遗传改良提供了新的信息。
