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Polydactyly is a genetic abnormality that affects both pig welfare and industry profits. Despite efforts to explore the genetic basis of pig polydactyly, progress remains limited. In this study, we analyzed a group of Large White pigs with postaxial polydactyly, including 29 cases and 79 controls from 24 families. High‐depth sequencing was performed on 20 pigs, while low‐depth sequencing was improved through imputation for the remaining pigs. A genome‐wide association study (GWAS) and genetic differentiation were conducted using the resequencing dataset, resulting in the identification of 48 significantly associated SNPs and 27 candidate regions. The genetic differentiation regions on chromosomes 5 and 18, which harbored GWAS‐identified SNPs, were delineated as confidence regions. The confidence region at Chr18: 1.850–1.925 Mb covers the fifth intron of LMBR1, a gene that contains an important regulatory element for SHH, known as ZRS. Mutations in this ZRS have been found to cause polydactyly in animals and humans. Therefore, we propose LMBR1 as a prospective candidate gene for postaxial polydactyly. These findings emphasize the importance of exploring the role of ZRS within LMBR1 in the pathogenesis of polydactyly in pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laiwu pigs are a Chinese indigenous breed that is renowned for its exceptionally high intramuscular fat content (average greater than 6%), providing an excellent genetic resource for the genetic improvement of meat quality of modern commercial pigs. To uncover genetic diversity, population structure, signature of selection, and potential exotic introgression in this breed, we sampled 238 Laiwu pigs from a state‐supported conservation population and genotyped these individuals using GeneSeek 80K SNP BeadChip. We then conducted in‐depth population genetics analyses for the Laiwu pig in a context of 1,116 pigs from 42 Eurasian diverse breeds. First, we show that the current Laiwu population has more abundant genetic diversity than the population of 18 years ago likely due to gene flow from European commercial breeds. Both neighbor‐joining (NJ) and principal component analyses indicate the introgression of European haplotypes into Laiwu pigs. The admixture analysis reveals that an average 26.66% of Laiwu genetic components are of European origin. Then, we assigned the tested individuals to different families according to their clustering patterns in the NJ tree and proposed a family‐based conservation strategy to reduce the risk of inbreeding depression in Laiwu pigs. Next, we explored three statistics (ROH and iHS and EigenGWAS) to identify a list of candidate genes for fat deposition, reproduction, and growth in Laiwu pigs. Last, we detected a strong signature of introgression from European pigs into Laiwu pigs at the GPC6 locus that regulates the growth of developing long bones. Further association analyses indicate that the introgressed GPC6 haplotype likely contributed to the improvement of growth performance in Laiwu pigs. Altogether, this study not only benefits the better conservation of the Laiwu pig, but also advances our knowledge of the poorly understood effect of human‐mediated introgression on phenotypic traits in Chinese indigenous pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bamaxiang pig is from Guangxi province in China, characterized by its small body size and two‐end black coat colour. It is an important indigenous breed for local pork market and excellent animal model for biomedical research. In this study, we performed genomewide association studies (GWAS) on 43 growth and carcass traits in 315 purebred Bamaxiang pigs based on a 1.4 million SNP array. We observed considerable phenotypic variability in the growth and carcass traits in the Bamaxiang pigs. The corresponding SNP based heritability varied greatly across the 43 traits and ranged from 9.0% to 88%. Through a conditional GWAS, we identified 53 significant associations for 35 traits at p value threshold of 10−6. Among which, 26 associations on chromosome 3, 7, 14 and X passed a genomewide significance threshold of 5 × 10−8. The most remarkable loci were at around 30.6 Mb on chromosome 7, which had growth stage‐dependent effects on body lengths and cannon circumferences and showed large effects on multiple carcass traits. We discussed HMGA1 NUDT3, EIF2AK1, TMEM132C and AFF2 that near the lead SNP of significant loci as plausible candidate genes for corresponding traits. We also showed that including phenotypic covariate in GWAS can help to reveal additional significant loci for the target traits. The results provide insight into the genetic architecture of growth and carcass traits in Bamaxiang pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disorders of consciousness (DOC) is a state in which consciousness is affected by brain injuries, leading to dysfunction in vigilance, awareness, and behavior. DOC encompasses coma, vegetative state, and minimally conscious state based on neurobehavioral function. Currently, DOC is one of the most common neurological disorders with a rapidly increasing incidence worldwide. Therefore, DOC not only impacts the lives of individuals and their families but is also becoming a serious public health threat. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can stimulate electrical activity using a pulsed magnetic field in the brain, with great value in the treatment of chronic pain, neurological diseases, and mental illnesses. However, the clinical application of rTMS in patients with DOC is debatable. Herein, we report the recent main findings of the clinical therapeutics of rTMS for DOC, including its efficacy and possible mechanisms. In addition, we discuss the potential key parameters (timing, location, frequency, strength, and secession of rTMS applications) that affect the therapeutic efficiency of rTMS in patients with DOC. This review may help develop clinical guidelines for the therapeutic application of rTMS in DOC.

Objective: Three genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and a meta-analysis of GWAS were conducted to explore the genetic mechanisms underlying variation in pig teat number., Methods: We performed three GWAS and a meta-analysis for teat number on three pig populations, including a White Duroc×Erhualian F 2 resource population (n = 1,743), a Chinese Erhualian pig population (n = 320) and a Chinese Sutai pig population (n = 383)., Results: We detected 24 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that surpassed the genome-wide significant level on Sus Scrofa chromosomes (SSC) 1, 7, and 12 in the F 2 resource population, corresponding to four loci for pig teat number. We highlighted vertnin ( VRTN ) and lysine demethylase 6B ( KDM6B ) as two interesting candidate genes at the loci on SSC7 and SSC12. No significant associated SNPs were identified in the meta-analysis of GWAS., Conclusion: The results verified the complex genetic architecture of pig teat number. The causative variants for teat number may be different in the three populations.

The dihedral angle between the planes of the two aromatic rings of the title compound, C(16)H(13)N(3)S, is 56.7 (3)°. The crystal packing is stabilized by inter-molecular N-H⋯N hydrogen bonds, which link the mol-ecules into chains along [11[Formula: see text]].

In the title compound, C(21)H(21)N(3)OS·C(3)H(7)NO, the carbonitrile mol-ecule is built up of two fused six-membered rings and one six-membered ring linked through a spiro C atom. The 1,3-diaza ring adopts an envelope conformation and the cyclo-hexane ring adopts a chair conformation. The dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 46.7 (3)°. In the crystal, the components are linked by N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

The title compound, C(21)H(21)N(3)O, was obtained by cyclo-condensation of 3-amino-5-methyl-[1,1'-biphen-yl]-2,4-di-car-bo-nitrile with cyclo-hexa-none. The six-membered 1,3-diaza ring assumes an envelope conformation [with the flap atom displaced by 0.511 (7) Å from the plane through the other ring atoms] and the cyclo-hexane ring displays a chair conformation. The dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 42.61 (7)°.In the crystal, the mol-ecules form hydrogen-bonded bands along [011].

The title compound, C(11)H(13)N(2)O, was obtained by cyclo-condensation of 2-amino-pyridine-3-carbonitrile with cyclo-penta-none. The mol-ecule is built up from two fused six-membered rings and one five-membered ring linked through a spiro C atom. Both the pyrimidine and the cyclo-pentane rings adopt envelope conformations. In the crystal structure, mol-ecules are linked by inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.