• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.779-783
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• 2006

The adiponectin gene is known to be involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis involving food intake, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Human adiponectin gene polymorphisms have been recently reported to be associated with obesity, insulin sensitivity and the risk of type 2 diabetes. The present study was carried out to investigate the porcine adiponectin gene as a candidate gene for fat deposition and carcass traits. A mutation of A178G of the porcine adiponectin gene that resulted in substitution of the amino acid Isoleucine to Valine was identified. AcyI PCR-RFLP was used to detect the polymorphism of the genotypes in five different pig populations (Large White, Landrace, Duroc, Chinese breeds Meishan and Qingping). The A allele frequency was significantly higher among subjects from Chinsese lard type breeds, while the G allele was the only one present in those from Western lean type breeds. To determine if there was an association of the polymorphism with phenotypic variation, the mutation was tested in 267 pigs of the "Large $White{\times}Meishan$" F2 resource population. The results of association analyses showed significant associations of the genotypes with fat deposition and carcass traits. Allele G was significantly associated with increase in loin eye height, loin eye area and lean meat percentage and bone percentage, and decrease in fat mean percentage, ratio of lean to fat, shoulder fat thickness, 6-7 rib fat thickness, thorax-waist fat thickness and buttock fat thickness. The substitution of A178G (Ile60Val) happened to be located at amino acid 60 in the collagenous domain of porcine adiponectin which might affect the association into higher-order structures, and accordingly affect the posttranslational modifications and optimal biological activity of the multimeric forms. The identified functional polymorphism provides new evidence of adiponectin as an important candidate gene affecting fat deposition and carcass traits in pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.457-466
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• 2015

Taoyuan pig is a native Taiwan breed. According to the historical record, the breed was first introduced to Taiwan from Guangdong province, Southern China, around 1877. The breed played an important role in Taiwan's early swine industry. It was classified as an indigenous breed in 1986. After 1987, a conserved population of Taoyuan pig was collected and reared in isolation. In this study, mitochondrial DNA sequences and 18 microsatellite markers were used to investigate maternal lineage and genetic diversity within the Taoyuan pig population. Population differentiation among Taoyuan, Asian type, and European type pig breeds was also evaluated using differentiation indices. Only one D-loop haplotype of the Taoyuan pig was found. It clustered with Lower Changjiang River Basin and Central China Type pig breeds. Based on the polymorphism of microsatellite markers, a positive fixation index value ($F_{IS}$) indicates that the conserved Taoyuan population suffers from inbreeding. In addition, high $F_{ST}$ values (>0.2105) were obtained, revealing high differentiation among these breeds. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling showed a clear geometric structure among 7 breeds. Together these results indicate that maternally Taoyuan pig originated in the Lower Changjiang River Basin and Central China; however, since being introduced to Taiwan differentiation has occurred. In addition, Taoyuan pig has lost genetic diversity in both its mitochondrial and nuclear genomes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1171-1177
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to establish the optimum protocol for the isolation and culture of porcine muscle satellite cells. Mononuclear muscle satellite cells are a kind of adult stem cell, which is located between the basal lamina and sarcolemma of muscle fibers and is the primary source of myogenic precursor cells in postnatal muscle. Muscle satellite cells are a useful model to investigate the mechanisms of muscle growth and development. Although the isolation and culture protocols of muscle satellite cells in some species (e.g. mouse) have been established successfully, the culture system for porcine muscle satellite cells is very limited. In this study, we optimized the isolation procedure of porcine muscle satellite cells and elaborated the isolation and culture process in detail. Furthermore, we characterized the porcine muscle satellite cells using the immunofluorecence. Our study provides a reference for the isolation of porcine muscle satellite cells and will be useful for studying the molecular mechanisms in these cells.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.305-328
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• 1991

Pig breeding programs have been very successful in the improvement of animals by the simple expedient of focusing on a few traits of economic importance, particularly growth efficiency and leanness. Further reductions in leanness may become more difficult to achieve, due to reduced genetic variation, and less desirable, due to adverse correlated effects on meat and eating quality. Best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) of breeding values makes possible the incorporation of data from many sources and increases the value of including traits such as sow performance in the breeding objective. Advances in technology, such as electronic animal identification, electronic feeders, improved ultrasonic scanners and automated data capture at slaughter houses, increase the number of sources of information that can be included in breeding value predictions. Breeding program structures will evolve to reflect these changes and a common structure is likely to be several or many breeding farms genetically linked by A.i., with data collected on a number of traits from many sources and integrated into a single breeding value prediction using BLUP. Future developments will include the production of a porcine gene map which may make it possible to identify genes controlling economically valuable traits, such as those for litter size in the Meishan, and introgress them into nucleus populations. Genes identified from the gene map or from other sources will provide insight into the genetic basis of performance and may provide the raw material from which transgenic programs will channel additional genetic variance into nucleus populations undergoing selection.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1350-1353
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• 2004

To further investigate the regions on porcine chromosome 7 that are responsible for economically important traits, phenotypic data from a total of 287 F2 individuals were collected and analyzed from 1998 to 2000. All animals were genotyped for eight microsatellite loci spanning the length of chromosome 7. QTL analysis was performed using interval mapping under the line-cross model. A permutation test was used to establish significance levels associated with QTL effects. Observed QTL effects were (chromosomewide significance, position of maximum significance in centimorgans): Birth weight (<0.01, 3); Carcass length (<0.05, 80); Longissimus muscle area (<0.01, 69); Skin percentage (<0.01, 69); Bone percentage (<0.01, 74); Fat depths at shoulder (<0.05, 54);Mean fat depth (<0.05, 81); Moisture in m. Longissimus Dorsi (<0.05, 88). Additional evidence was also found which suggested QTL for dressing percentage and fat depths at buttock. This study offers confirmation of several QTL affecting growth and carcass traits on SSC7 and provides an important step in the search for the actual major genes involved in the traits of economic interest.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2010

The full-length cDNA of the porcine peroxisomal ${\Delta}^3$,${\Delta}^2$-enoyl-CoA isomerase (PECI) gene encodes a monofunctional peroxisomal ${\Delta}^3$,${\Delta}^2$-enoyl-CoA isomerase. Cloning and sequencing of the porcine PECI cDNA revealed the presence of an 1185-base pair open reading frame predicted to encode a 394-amino acid protein by the 5'rapid amplification of cDNA ends (5'RACE) and EST sequences. The porcine PECI gene was expressed in seven tissues (heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, skeletal muscle, fat) which was revealed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The porcine PECI was mapped to SSC71/2 p11-13 using the somatic cell hybrid panel (SCHP) and the radiation hybrid panel (RH) (LOD score 12.84). The data showed that PECI was closely linked to marker S0383. A C/T single nucleotide polymorphism in PECI exon 10 (3'UTR) was detected as a PvuII PCR-RFLP. Association analysis in our experimental pig population showed that different genotypes of PECI gene were significantly associated with the Average Backfat thickness (ABF) (p<0.05) and Buttock backfat thickness (p<0.01).

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.188-195
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• 1993

In order to understand the machanism of action and regulation of ${\beta}$-adrenergic receptor in terms of molecular level, the purification of receptor protein has a fundamental importance. Moreover, species differences among avian, amphibian and mammalian ${\beta}$-adrenergic receptors make it more important to purify mammalian ${\beta}$-adrenergic receptor. Because ${\beta}$-adrenergic receptor is an integral membrane protein, it must be solubilized from the membrane for the purification. The purpose of the present study was to solubilize and characterize the mammalian $\beta$-adrenergic receptor from guinea pig lung in quantities by more efficient and practical method eventually to purify receptor. Guinea pig lung membrane preparation was solubilized by sequential treatment of buffers containing low and high concentration of digitonin which are 0.2 and 1.2% respectively. About 50% of the total receptor pool was released by this double extraction procedure. The $\beta$-adrenoceptors in the digitonin extract were identified using the ${\beta}$-adrenergic antagonist, (-)-[$^3H$]-dihydroalprenolol ([$^3H$]DHA). The solubilized receptor retained all of the essential characteristics of membrane-bound receptor, namely saturability; stereoselectivity; high affinity to ${\beta}$-adrenergic drugs. For the measurement of soluble receptor activity, Sephadex G-50 chromatography method has been widely used. Inspite of its accuracy and wide acceptance, this technique employed troublesome column work which required long time to assay the activity of receptor. We employed another methods to measure receptor activity. When using 0.5% polyethylenimine pretreated GF/B glass fiber filter, filtration technique could be used to measure soluble receptor activity. This technique enabled us to reduce the total amount of time to assay by a factor of 4 as well as to detect soluble receptor. In the present study, we could establish more efficient and practical solubilization method of mammalian $\beta$-adrenergic receptor. The rapidity and high yield of this solubilization scheme, together with the favorable recovery of the receptor activity, are significant steps toward the ultimate purification of the mammalian $\beta$-adrenergic receptor. The result of this study together with more convenient purification method could provide large amount of purified receptor with ease for various research purposes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1565-1574
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• 2018

Objective: The aim of the present study was to identify genetic variants based on RNA-seq data, obtained via transcriptome sequencing of muscle tissue of pigs differing in muscle histological structure, and to verify the variants' effect on histological microstructure and production traits in a larger pig population. Methods: RNA-seq data was used to identify the panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly related with percentage and diameter of each fiber type (I, IIA, IIB). Detected polymorphisms were mapped to quantitative trait loci (QTLs) regions. Next, the association study was performed on 944 animals representing five breeds (Landrace, Large White, Pietrain, Duroc, and native Puławska breed) in order to evaluate the relationship of selected SNPs and histological characteristics, meat quality and carcasses traits. Results: Mapping of detected genetic variants to QTL regions showed that chromosome 14 was the most overrepresented with the identification of four QTLs related to percentage of fiber types I and IIA. The association study performed on a 293 longissimus muscle samples confirmed a significant positive effect of transforming acidic coiled-coil-containing protein 2 (TACC2) polymorphisms on fiber diameter, while SNP within forkhead box O1 (FOXO1) locus was associated with decrease of diameter of fiber types IIA and IIB. Moreover, subsequent general linear model analysis showed significant relationship of FOXO1, delta 4-desaturase, sphingolipid 1 (DEGS1), and troponin T2 (TNNT2) genes with loin 'eye' area, FOXO1 with loin weight, as well as FOXO1 and TACC2 with lean meat percentage. Furthermore, the intramuscular fat content was positively associated (p<0.01) with occurrence of polymorphisms within DEGS1, TNNT2 genes and negatively with occurrence of TACC2 polymorphism. Conclusion: This study's results indicate that the SNP calling analysis based on RNA-seq data can be used to search candidate genes and establish the genetic basis of phenotypic traits. The presented results can be used for future studies evaluating the use of selected SNPs as genetic markers related to muscle histological profile and production traits in pig breeding.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1109-1115
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• 2008

The reproduction component traits are important components of sow efficiency. The objective of this study was to evaluate the phenotypic and genetic parameters of four reproduction component traits (age at puberty (AP), preweaning number dead (PND), weaning to service interval (WSI), and intra-individual SD in litter size (IISDLS)) of sows in two Chinese indigenous pig breeds. Available reproductive records including 22,591 piglets born from 2,054 litters by 574 Jiangquhai sows and 464 Meishan sows were used in this investigation. A set of mixed models and restricted maximum likelihood methodology were used for the multiple trait analyses of these traits. The results showed that the estimates of heritabilities (${\pm}$standard error) for AP, PND, WSI and IISDLS were $0.40{\pm}0.05$, $0.06{\pm}0.03$, $0.20{\pm}0.02$ and 0.09{\pm}0.03 in Jiangquhai sows, and $0.35{\pm}0.06$, $0.05{\pm}0.03$, $0.18{\pm}0.03$ and $0.10{\pm}0.04$ in Meishan sows, respectively. There was moderate genetic correlation between AP and WSI, while there were low genetic correlations between the other pairwise traits. The genetic correlations were positive for most of the pairwise traits, except for the one between AP and IISDLS. The results indicated that all traits except for AP were difficult to make genetic improvement by traditional selection methods due to low heritabilities and the favorable improvement of AP might result in unfavorable changes of IISDLS due to the trend of genetic antagonism.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.462-469
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• 2017

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify genomic regions or genes controlling growth traits in pigs. Methods: Using a panel of 54,148 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we performed a genome-wide Association (GWA) study in 562 pure Yorshire pigs with four growth traits: average daily gain from 30 kg to 100 kg or 115 kg, and days to 100 kg or 115 kg. Fixed and random model Circulating Probability Unification method was used to identify the associations between 54,148 SNPs and these four traits. SNP annotations were performed through the Sus scrofa data set from Ensembl. Bioinformatics analysis, including gene ontology analysis, pathway analysis and network analysis, was used to identify the candidate genes. Results: We detected 6 significant and 12 suggestive SNPs, and identified 9 candidate genes in close proximity to them (suppressor of glucose by autophagy [SOGA1], R-Spondin 2 [RSPO2], mitogen activated protein kinase kinase 6 [MAP2K6], phospholipase C beta 1 [PLCB1], rho GTPASE activating protein 24 [ARHGAP24], cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein 4 [CPEB4], GLI family zinc finger 2 [GLI2], neuronal tyrosine-phosphorylated phosphoinositide-3-kinase adaptor 2 [NYAP2], and zinc finger protein multitype 2 [ZFPM2]). Gene ontology analysis and literature mining indicated that the candidate genes are involved in bone, muscle, fat, and lung development. Pathway analysis revealed that PLCB1 and MAP2K6 participate in the gonadotropin signaling pathway and suggests that these two genes contribute to growth at the onset of puberty. Conclusion: Our results provide new clues for understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying growth traits, and may help improve these traits in future breeding programs.