Sequence variation in the cathepsin B (CTSB), L (CTSL), S (CTSS) and K (CTSK) genes in Ukrainian pig breeds

Abstract

Cathepsins are a family of peptidase enzymes which are involved in the regulation of economically important traits in pigs. The aims of this study were (i) to identify the breed-specific frequency of polymorphisms in the cathepsin B (CTSB), L (CTSL), S (CTSS), and K (CTSK) genes in seven Ukrainian pig breeds, and (ii) to compare the cathepsins polymorphism frequency between Ukrainian breeds, a commonly used European meat breed (Piétrain) and a representative fat breed (Meishan). The Ukrainian breeds used were: Ukrainian Large White, Ukrainian Large Black, Poltava Meat, Myrgorod, Ukrainian Steppe Spotted, Ukrainian Landrace and Ukrainian Steppe White. The study established breed-specific differences in the allele frequencies and informativity of polymorphisms in the CTSB, CTSL, CTSS and CTSK genes in Ukrainian breeds. The following were of particular interest: locus CTSB in Ukrainian Large Black breed, locus CTSL in Ukrainian Steppe Spotted, and loci CTSS and CTSK in Myrgorod breed. The segregation of SNPs in meat quality candidate genes demonstrating intermediate or high polymorphism levels in the Ukrainian breeds Myrgorod, Ukrainian Steppe Spotted and Ukrainian Large Black is of interest for future evaluation in association studies with the view of complementing selection indexes with molecular information

This research was supported by a research grant from the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ukraine ( No D Р 0111 U004024 ), EU Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Grant “Excelmeat” (No 246760) and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Pathfinder grant (No BB/FOF/PF/5/11).