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Association analysis of the SNP (rs345476947) in the FUT2 gene with the production and reproductive traits in pigs

Genes & Genomics volume 40, pages 199–206 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

The FUT2 gene was considered as an important candidate for pathogenic infections, while the potential associations between this gene and the production and reproductive traits of pigs have not been explored. In this study, we detected the genetic variants of porcine FUT2 gene and analyzed the associations of the polymorphisms with FUT2 mRNA expression and production and reproductive traits (age at 100 kg, backfat thickness at 100 kg, eye muscle thickness, the number of newborn piglets, the number of weaned piglets, and birth weight) in 100 Large White sows. One single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (rs345476947, C→T) in the intron of FUT2 and three genotypes (TT, CT and CC) were determined. Association analysis revealed significant associations between this SNP with the number of newborn piglets and weaned piglets. Furthermore, individuals with the TT genotype had significantly higher numbers of newborn piglets and weaned piglets than those with the CC genotype (P < 0.05). Quantitative PCR analysis showed that FUT2 expression in individuals with CC genotype was significantly higher than those with TT and CT genotypes in the liver and lymph gland (P < 0.05) and higher than that of CT in the spleen, kidney, and duodenum (P < 0.05). These findings indicated that the TT genotype may be a favorable genotype for the reproductive traits of pigs. Our study revealed the genetic variants of the FUT2 gene and identified a promising candidate SNP (rs345476947) associated with the reproductive traits, which has the potential to be applied in selective breeding of pigs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31572360, 31372285), the Science and Technology Supporting Project of Jiangsu Province (BE2015329, BE2016315), and the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. We would like to thank the native English speaking scientists of Elixigen Company (Huntington Beach, California) for editing our manuscript.

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Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics, Breeding, Reproduction and Molecular Design of Jiangsu Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, People’s Republic of China

    Haifei Wang, Sen Wu, Jiayun Wu, Shouyong Sun, Shenglong Wu & Wenbin Bao

  2. Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture & Agri-Product SafetyYangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, People’s Republic of China

    Shenglong Wu & Wenbin Bao

Authors
  1. Haifei Wang
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  2. Sen Wu
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  3. Jiayun Wu
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  4. Shouyong Sun
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  5. Shenglong Wu
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  6. Wenbin Bao
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Contributions

BWW and WSL designed and conceived the study. WHF, WS, WJY and SSY collected the samples and performed the experiments. BWW and WHF analyzed the data and draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wenbin Bao.

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Conflict of interest

Haifei Wang declares that he does not have conflict of interest. Sen Wu declares that he does not have conflict of interest. Jiayun Wu declares that she does not have conflict of interest. Shouyong Sun declares that he does not have conflict of interest. Shenglong Wu declares that he does not have conflict of interest. Wenbin Bao declares that he does not have conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The animal study proposal was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the Yangzhou University Animal Experiments Ethics Committee (Permit Number: SYXK (Su) IACUC 2012-0029). All experimental procedures were performed in accordance with the Regulations for the Administration of Affairs Concerning Experimental Animals approved by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.

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Wang, H., Wu, S., Wu, J. et al. Association analysis of the SNP (rs345476947) in the FUT2 gene with the production and reproductive traits in pigs. Genes Genom 40, 199–206 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13258-017-0623-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13258-017-0623-7

Keywords

  • Pig
  • FUT2 gene
  • SNP
  • Production and reproductive traits