The liver transcriptome of two full-sibling Songliao black pigs with extreme differences in backfat thickness

Background： Fatness traits in animals are important for their growth, meat quality, reproductive performance, and immunity. The liver is the principal organ of the regulation of lipid metabolism, and this study used massive parallelized high-throughput sequencing technologies to determine the porcine liver tissue transcriptome architecture of two full-sibling Songliao black pigs harboring extremely different phenotypes of backfat thickness. Results： The total number of reads produced for each sample was in the region of 53 million, and 8,226 novel transcripts were detected. Approximately 92 genes were differentially regulated in the liver tissue, while 31 spliced transcripts and 33 primary transcripts showed significantly differential expression between pigs with higher and lower backfat thickness. Genes that were differentially expressed were involved in the metabolism of various substances, smal molecule biochemistry, and molecular transport. Conclusions： Genes involved in the regulation of iipids could play an important role in lipid and fatty acid metabolism in the liver. These results could help us understand how liver metabolism affects the backfat thickness of pigs.

Online ultrasonic terminal for measuring pig backfat thickness

The measurement of pig backfat thickness(PBFT)has to stand up to challenges with the reliability,accuracy,and convenience.Acquiring PBFT timely and precisely from a finite distance is extremely necessary to improve the process of pig production and implement effective management.In an attempt to alleviate these problems,an online handheld terminal was designed with a new method based on ultrasonic technology for measuring PBFT during the process of pig breeding,which can overcome the difficulties encountered in other destructive means.The terminal comprised three main components:a main microcontroller unit(MCU)to measure PBFT,a RFID module to identify each pig and send data(e.g.identity,measurement time and PBFT)to a server via wireless transmission module,and an ultrasonic transducer to drive and receive signals between them.A measurement error within 0-1 mm was acquired through testing three groups of samples.Results indicated that this handheld terminal had a required accuracy and proved that the ultrasonic wave processing method can be deployed in a mobile terminal for PBFT measurement.It also provided a feasible nondestructive alternative to measure PBFT.Associated with information management software platform,this method may ultimately help pig production farmers measure the PBFT accurately and conveniently,and improve the pig production efficiency.

Genome-wide association study of the backfat thickness trait in two pig populations

Backfat thickness is a good predictor of carcass lean content,an economically important trait,and a main breeding target in pig improvement.In this study,the candidate genes and genomic regions associated with the tenth rib backfat thickness trait were identified in two independent pig populations,using a genome-wide association study of porcine 60K SNP genotype data applying the compressed mixed linear model(CMLM)statistical method.For each population,30 most significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs)were selected and SNP annotation implemented using Sus scrofa Build 10.2.In the first population,25 significant SNPs were distributed on seven chromosomes,and SNPs on SSC1 and SSC7 showed great significance for fat deposition.The most significant SNP(ALGA0006623)was located on SSC1,upstream of the MC4R gene.In the second population,27 significant SNPs were recognized by annotation,and 12 SNPs on SSC12 were related to fat deposition.Two haplotype blocks,M1GA0016251-MARC0075799 and ALGA0065251-MARC0014203-M1GA0016298-ALGA0065308,were detected in significant regions where the PIPNC1 and GH1 genes were identified as contributing to fat metabolism.The results indicated that genetic mechanism regulating backfat thickness is complex,and that genome-wide associations can be affected by populations with different genetic backgrounds.