Polymorphism of intronic microsatellites in the A-FABP and LEPR genes and its association with productive traits in the pig

Abstract

The adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP) and leptin receptor (LEPR) genes are candidate quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for fatness traits in the pig. In both genes polymorphic short tandem repeat (STR) sequences in intron 1 (A-FABP) and in intron 3 (LEPR) were revealed. The association studies between both polymorphisms and productive traits were performed in two breeds (Polish Large White and Polish Landrace) and one synthetic line (L990) of the pig. In the A-FABP ten and in the LEPR gene eight alleles were identified, and the polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.713 to 0.749 and from 0.441 to 0.557, respectively. The associations with backfat thickness and intramuscular fat content were found. Since the observed relationships considering each gene were not concordant in all the studied populations, it was concluded that both genes are linked with an unknown QTL.