Search

The present study shows the characterization of the chromosome 15 (SSC15) region that is highly rich in quantitative traits loci (QTLs) associated with pork quality, growth performance, fat and meat carcass contents. The analytic method that was utilized included targeted enrichment DNA sequencing and RNA hybridisation probes. The research included two pig breeds (Puławska and Polish Landrace) that are significantly different in terms of carcass and meat quality features. Filtered sequences were aligned to the Sscrofa10.2 assembly genome with the STAR aligner and GATK HaplotypeCaller was used for identified gene variants in SSC15 region. In Puławska pigs, which were characterized by high meat quality, mutations were predominantly observed in non-coding regions such as introns and intergenic regions. The highest over 50% frequencies of alternate alleles were identified in the introns of TNS1, VIL1 and USP37 genes. In the upstream gene regions of the Polish Landrace pigs, were observed more mutations than in the upstream gene regions of Puławska. The present study showed interesting gene variant panel that could be analyzed in the further association studies in order to understand the impact on important productive pig traits., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Identification of new polymorphic variants from RNA-seq data is difficult mainly because of the errors arising during bioinformatic analysis. Therefore, new experiments in this area are very profitable for improving new statistical methods. In our study of the porcine brain transcriptome, we have identified 10966 polymorphic variants, among which 7277 were single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Further, we have calculated allelic ratios for the SNPs identified and estimated that 52% of genes in porcine brain are subjected to allele-specific expression (ASE), a phenomenon in which one allele is preferentially expressed. Our investigation presents the first estimates of ASE in porcine brain. In addition, we have used the results of RNA-seq for the identification of SNPs in putatively imprinted genes. Finally, we have used these SNPs for the verification of the imprinted status of the INPP5f variant 2, LRRTM1 and HM13 genes in pigs by Sanger sequencing. We observed that INPP5f variant 2 is paternally expressed, while HM13 and LRRTM1 are biallelically expressed in porcine brain. We have also confirmed maternal expression of the MEG3 gene in pigs. Our results present how RNA-seq data may be used for imprinting studies without sequencing of parental genomes., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)