EXCELMEAT Workshop
BiosensingPork Quality
Lleida, 25 October 2012
Performance of a genome-wide association analysis for
intramuscular fat and cholesterol contents in a Duroc commercial
population
Manunza A1, González R1, Quintanilla R2, Casellas J3, Hernández-Sánchez J2, Mercadé A1, Pena
RN4, Castelló A1, Amills M1
1
Department of Animal Genetics, Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CSIC-IRTA-
UAB-UB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Spain; 2Genètica i Millora
Animal, Lleida, 25198 Spain, IRTA; 3Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat de
Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Spain; 4Departament de
Producció Animal, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, 25198 Spain
Intramuscular fat (IMF) and cholesterol (Chol) contents have important consequences on meat
quality and nutritional properties. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) may play a
fundamental role in the identification of genetic factors that shape the phenotypìc variability
of these two traits. Herewith, we report the results of one GWAS for IMF and Chol contents in
the Gluteus medius (GM) and Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles of a Duroc commercial line (N =
350). Genotyping information was obtained with the Illumina Infinium HD Porcine SNP60
Beadchip. All analyses were performed with PLINK v1.07 and permutation tests were used to
correct for multiple testing (significant associations: P-value < 0.01; suggestive associations: Pvalue < 0.05). We did not find any significant association between SNP genotypes and LD IMF
and Chol contents. In contrast, genome-wide significant associations between GM IMF and 23
SNPs located at chromosomes SSC2, SSC3, SSC4,SSC8, SSC10 and SSC14 were found. Moreover,
136 SNPs significantly associated with IMF at the chromosome-wide level were detected in 15
porcine autosomes. These results are partially consistent with previous analyses
demonstrating that most of the additive variance for GM IMF is located at SSC2, SSC3, SSC5
and SSC6. One of the most relevant associations we have found was the one between SSC14
SNP DIAS0004286, DRGA0014601 and ALGA0081626 and GM IMF. Interestingly, this region
contains the Glycerol Phosphate Acyltransferase (GPAT) gene that plays a key role in
glycerolipid biosynthesis.