Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the Cytochrome P450 (CYP2A6) gene as a candidate gene for the traits related with meat fatty acid composition traits in pigs. Porcine CYP2A6 polymorphisms were detected and PCR-RFLP was performed for genotyping of Korean native pig (n=14), Landrace (n=3), Duroc (n=3), Berkshire (n=3), Yorkshire (n=8) and F2 population composed of 202 individuals from an intercross between Korean Native pig and Yorkshire. PCR primer set amplified a 612 bp fragment of CYP2A6 and digestion of the PCR products was performed with the restriction enzymes SchI. The CYP2A6 SchI polymorphism was only found in the KNP breed. The genotype frequencies of TT, TC and CC genotypes were 0.36, 0.56 and 0.08 in the KNP respectively and the other pig breeds were fixed with CC genotype (Duroc, Landrace, Berkshire and Yorkshire). Statistical association between genotypes and fatty acid composition traits were tested in the Korean native pig and Yorkshire crossed F2 pigs. The CYP2A6 SchI polymorphism was associated with only fatty acid composition C20:3n3 level (cis11,14,17-Eicosatrienoic acid, p=0.0252). The 'T' allele was associated with lower C20:3n3 level. Further study is required to validate the genotypic association and biological consequence of the CYP2A6 gene polymorphism in pigs.