An investigation into the genetic controls of meat quality in swine

Consumers and many sectors of the pork industry are demanding improvements in meat quality. This provides a new challenge for the breeding industry, which is seeking advanced genetic tools that can be practically incorporated in selection schemes for trait improvement. Adipocyte determination and differentiation factor-1 (ADD1) transcription factor believed to play a role in encoding enzymes of lipid biosynthesis in humans. Given the physiological effects of this gene in other mammalian species, ADD1 may also control backfat deposition in the pig, and therefore also contribute to variation in meat quality traits. Primers were designed using partial porcine mRNA sequence (GenBank #AF 102873). The ADD1 fragment amplified in the pig was 95% homologous to the rat, and 83% homologous to human ADD1 sequence. Results of a pig-rodent somatic cell hybrid panel indicated that ADD1 is located on pig chromosome 12 (SSC12) with 100% probability, and isolated to the region 12p11-q15 with 95% probability. This location is in agreement with the localization of the human adipocyte determination and differentiation factor-1 to HSA 17p11.2 which corresponds to SSC 12. A TaqI PCR-RFLP was polymorphic for five PiGMaP families and linkage analysis revealed that ADD1 was most closely linked with ALOX12 (107.0 cM) and GLUT4 (125.0 cM) on the distal end of the q-arm of SSC 12. Further association studies utilizing the ADD1 PCR-RFLPs detected are planned in order to determine the effects of ADD1 on backfat and meat quality characteristics in the pig.