title: Molecular cloning and polymorphism of the porcine  H2AFZ gene.
abstract: H2A histone family, member Z (H2A.Z) is required for early mammalian development. In the present study, the 932 bp of full-length cDNA encoding a 128 amino-acid protein and the sequences of intron 2 to 4 of the porcine H2A histone family, member Z (pH2AFZ) gene were obtained. By comparative sequencing of pH2AFZ gene in Large White and Meishan pigs, a 4 bp deletion/insertion in intron 2 was detected and a PCR-Bsu15I-RFLP was established to detect this variation. In DIV (4th Dam line of Chinese lean-type new lines) pigs, the first-parity females with AA genotype had fewer piglets born alive (-2.64 and -1.83 piglets per litter) than those with AB (P < 0.01) and BB (P < 0.05) genotype. The additive allelic and dominance effect were estimated to be 0.92 (P < 0.05) and -0.87 piglets per litter (P < 0.01) for number of piglets born alive, respectively. This result suggests that the pH2AFZ gene might be a good candidate gene of litter-size trait and provides some marker information for marker-assisted selection.
authors.affiliation: 1Key Laboratory of Pig Genetics and Breeding of Ministry of Agriculture & Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: S Q
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.forename: X W
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Y Z
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Li