Genomic background of biotypes related to growth, carcass and meat quality traits in Duroc pigs based on principal component analysis

As the swine industry continues to explore pork quality traits alongside growth, feed efficiency and carcass leanness traits, it becomes imperative to understand their underlying genetic relationships. Due to this increase in the number of desirable traits, animal breeders must also consider methods to efficiently perform direct genetic changes for each trait and evaluate alternative selection indexes with different sets of phenotypic measurements. Principal component analysis (PCA) and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) can be combined to understand the genetic architecture and biological mechanisms by defining biological types (biotypes) that relate these valuable traits. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to: (1) estimate genomic-based genetic parameters; (2) define animal biotypes utilizing PCA; and (3) utilize GWAS to link the biotypes to candidate genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL). The phenotypic dataset included 2583 phenotypic records from female Duroc pigs from a terminal sire line. The pedigree file contained 193,764 animals and the genotype file included 21,309 animals with 35,651 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Eight principal components (PCs), accounting for a total of 99.7% of the population variation, were defined for three growth, eight conventional carcass, 10 pork quality and 18 novel carcass traits. The eight biotypes defined from the PCs were found to be related to growth rate, maturity, meat quality and body structure, which were then related to candidate genes. Of the 175 candidate genes found, six of them [LDHA (SSC1), PIK3C3 (SSC6), PRKAG3 (SSC15), VRTN (SSC7), DLST (SSC7) and PAPPA (SSC1)] related to four PCs were found to be associated with previously defined QTL, linking the biotypes with biological processes involved with muscle growth, fat deposition, glycogen levels and skeletal development. Further functional analyses helped to make connections between biotypes, relating them through common KEGG pathways and gene ontology (GO) terms. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the genetic relationships between growth, carcass and meat quality traits in Duroc pigs, enabling breeders to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying the phenotypic expression of these traits.

Effect of physical training on control mechanisms of lipolysis in rat fat cell ghosts

Fat cell ghosts and homogenates of fat cells were used to study the influence of training on the regulatory system for lipolysis in adipose tissue of female rats. A training effect was identified from elevated succinate dehydrogenase activities in the soleus and plantaris muscles. Neither basal nor maximal (NaF-stimulated) adenylate cyclase activities per mg protein of fat cell ghosts were altered by training. Fluoride-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity per microgram DNA was lower in the trained than untrained group. Adenylate cyclase activities in response to norepinephrine expressed either on a per mg protein or per microgram DNA basis were lower (P less than 0.05) in fat cell ghosts from trained rats. Phosphodiesterase activity was higher (P less than 0.05) in fat cell ghosts from trained rats for cyclic AMP concentrations of 1--5.0 micrometer. The apparent Km's of phosphodiesterase were 1.19 and 2.0 micrometer of cyclic AMP for the untrained and trained groups, respectively (P less than 0.05). Protein kinase activity in the supernatant fraction of homogenates of fat cells was unchanged due to training. The overall effect of training was to blunt the system for cyclic AMP production in rat adipocytes. This may explain, at least partially, the lower plasma free fatty acid levels observed in trained compared to untrained persons during submaximal exercise.