Deciphering the pig genome to understand gamete production

Abstract

The field of livestock genomics has made considerable advances in the past decade. In the area of pig reproduction, a number of genome scans have identified several genomic regions associated with variation in reproductive measures ranging from ovulation rate, litter size and testis size. Additionally, several candidate genes have been associated with variation in litter size. These studies primarily focused on developing genetic markers to facilitate selection decisions. To date, their results have made minor contributions to commercial pig performance and our knowledge on the inheritance of complex phenotypes. With the availability of additional resources for pig, as well as from human and mouse studies, future studies should be directed to identifying genetic variation that affects biological processes. To reach this goal, teams of diversely trained scientists need to be formed that include geneticists, physiologists, molecular biologists and bioinformaticists. A diversified team of scientists equipped with all of the available research tools (genomic sequence data, expression arrays, knowledge of gene product functions, etc.) and appropriate swine populations should be able to decode the genome's hidden secrets on how it controls reproductive processes.