title: The Belt mutation in pigs is an allele at the Dominant white (I/KIT) locus.
abstract: A white belt is a common coat color phenotype in pigs and is determined by a dominant allele (Be). Here we present the result of a genome scan performed using a Hampshire (Belt)/Pietrain (non-Belt) backcross segregating for the white belt trait. We demonstrate that Belt maps to the centromeric region of pig Chromosome (Chr) 8 harboring the Dominant white (I/KIT) locus. Complete cosegregation between Belt and a single nucleotide polymorphism in the KIT gene was observed. Another potential candidate gene, the endothelin receptor type A gene (EDNRA), was excluded as it was assigned to a different region (SSC8q21) by FISH analysis. We argue that Belt is a regulatory KIT mutation on the basis of comparative data on mouse KIT mutants and our previous sequence analysis of the KIT coding sequence from a Hampshire pig. Quantitative PCR analysis revealed that Belt is not associated with a KIT duplication, as is the case for the Patch and Dominant white alleles. Thus, Belt is a fourth allele at the Dominant white locus, and we suggest that it is denoted I(Be).
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala Biomedical Centre, Box 597, S-751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giuffra
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Törnsten
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wales
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Looft
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Plastow
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Andersson
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D002503:Centromere / Q000235:genetics; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005260:Female; D020440:Gene Duplication; D005799:Genes, Dominant / Q000235:genetics; D006200:Hair Color / Q000235:genetics*; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008126:Lod Score; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D010375:Pedigree; D010641:Phenotype; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000235:genetics*; D044022:Receptor, Endothelin A; D017466:Receptors, Endothelin / Q000235:genetics; D013552:Swine / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D044022:Receptor, Endothelin A; D017466:Receptors, Endothelin; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit