New SNPs in the IGF2 gene and association between this gene and backfat thickness and lean meat content in Large White pigs

Abstract

IGF2-in3-G3072A is a causative mutation for paternally expressed quantitative trait loci on the p arm of porcine chromosome 2 with substantial effect on muscle growth and backfat thickness. The linkage disequilibrium between IGF2-in3-G3072A and IGF2-in7-G162C (IGF2-NciI) in four breeds and associations between these polymorphisms and growth and meat performance in pigs of the Large White breed were analysed. A significant effect of these polymorphisms on backfat thickness and lean meat content was found. In addition, we identified two new single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in intron 7 of the gene. The existence of complete linkage disequilibrium between IGF2-in3-G3072A locus in the population under study where the locus segregated and SNPs in intron 7 of the IGF2 gene detectable with simple and reliable polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques (G162C, C179G and G186T) offer possibilities to use these SNPs for genotyping of quantitative trait nucleotide in Large White and Landrace breeds.