title: Evidence of a new leukemia inhibitory factor-associated genetic marker for litter size in a synthetic pig line.
abstract: The association of a diallelic polymorphism in the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) gene with reproductive, growth, and carcass traits was studied in a German synthetic pig line. The diallelic SNP has been located in the 3'-untranslated region of the third exon of the porcine LIF gene. Information on 955 litter records from 273 genotyped sows was used in the analyses with respect to the number of piglets born alive. To identify possible pleiotropic marker effects, the growth and carcass traits ADG and backfat thickness were tested for associations with the SNP within the LIF gene in this population. At the LIF locus, the allele frequencies were 0.27 for the A allele and 0.73 for the B allele. There was an indication of an additive effect on the number of piglets born alive, and a significant dominance effect of the B allele was observed for first, second, and third to 10th parities (P = 0.044). The dominance effect for the first parity amounted to -0.73 +/- 0.36 (P = 0.047). No associations were detected between the marker alleles and the growth and carcass traits.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Bünteweg 17 p, 30559 Hannover, Germany. andreas.spoetter@tiho-hannover.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spötter
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drögemüller
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamann
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Distl
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005819:Genetic Markers; D005838:Genotype; D053605:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D008098:Litter Size / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D012621:Seasons; D013552:Swine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D005819:Genetic Markers; D053605:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor