title: Possible introgression of the VRTN mutation increasing vertebral number, carcass length and teat number from Chinese pigs into European pigs.
abstract: Vertnin (VRTN) variants have been associated with the number of thoracic vertebrae in European pigs, but the association has not been evidenced in Chinese indigenous pigs. In this study, we first performed a genome-wide association study in Chinese Erhualian pigs using one VRTN candidate causative mutation and the Illumina Porcine 60K SNP Beadchips. The VRTN mutation is significantly associated with thoracic vertebral number in this population. We further show that the VRTN mutation has pleiotropic and desirable effects on teat number and carcass (body) length across four diverse populations, including Erhualian, White Duroc × Erhualian F2 population, Duroc and Landrace pigs. No association was observed between VRTN genotype and growth and fatness traits in these populations. Therefore, testing for the VRTN mutation in pig breeding schemes would not only increase the number of vertebrae and nipples, but also enlarge body size without undesirable effects on growth and fatness traits, consequently improving pork production. Further, by using whole-genome sequence data, we show that the VRTN mutation was possibly introgressed from Chinese pigs into European pigs. Our results provide another example showing that introgressed Chinese genes greatly contributed to the development and production of modern European pig breeds.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, South China Agricultural University, Guangdong, P.R. China.|State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lusheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Wens Foodstuffs Group Co., Ltd, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shaoming
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wenjiang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Leilei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Huashui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, South China Agricultural University, Guangdong, P.R. China.|National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Wens Foodstuffs Group Co., Ltd, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhenfang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition / Q000235:genetics; D001947:Breeding; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D005838:Genotype; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics; D000069466:Red Meat; D013131:Spine / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; C000519:cryogenine