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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Livestock Bio-Systems » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #323303
Title: Potential functional variants associated with age at puberty in a validation population of swine

Author
item Nonneman, Danny - Dan
item Lents, Clay
item KALBFLEISCH, THEODORE - University Of Louisville
item Vallet, Jeff
item Rohrer, Gary

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/11/2016
Publication Date: 1/11/2016
Citation: Nonneman, D.J., Lents, C.A., Kalbfleisch, T.S., Vallet, J.L., Rohrer, G.A. 2016. Potential functional variants associated with age at puberty in a validation population of swine [abstract]. Plant and Animal Genome Conference Proceedings. XXIV Conference:Abstract #P0619.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Puberty in pigs is defined as age at first estrus and gilts that have an earlier age at puberty are more likely to have greater sow lifetime productivity. Because age at puberty is predictive for sow longevity and lifetime productivity, but not routinely measured in commercial herds, it would be beneficial to use genomic or marker-assisted selection to improve these traits. A genome-wide association study at USMARC identified several loci associated with age at puberty in pigs. Candidate genes in these regions were scanned for potential functional variants using sequence information from the USMARC swine population founder animals and public databases. One-hundred forty variants (SNP and insertion/deletions) in forty genes were genotyped in 1275 phenotyped animals from a validation population sired by Landrace and Yorkshire industry semen using the Sequenom MassArray system. Twelve variants in eight genes were associated with age at puberty (p<0.005) with estimated additive SNP effects ranging from 1.6 to 5.3 days. Nine of these variants were nonsynonymous coding changes in AHR, CYP1A2, NPFFR2, OR2M4, SDCCAG8, TBC1D1 and ZNF608, two variants were deletions of one and four codons in aryl hydrocarbon receptor AHR, and the most significant SNP was near an acceptor splice site in the acetyl-CoA carboxylase alpha, ACACA. Several of the loci identified have a physiological and a genetic role in sexual maturation in humans and other animals. Further functional validation of these variants could identify causative mutations that influence age at puberty in gilts and possibly sow lifetime productivity.