Browsing by Author "Núñez Moreno, Yolanda"

The hypothalamus is implicated in controlling feeding and adiposity, besides many other physiological functions, and thus can be of great importance in explaining productive differences between lean and fatty pig breeds. The present study aimed to evaluate the hypothalamic transcriptome of pure Iberian (IBxIB) and Large White x Iberian crossbreds (IBxLW) at 60 days-old, produced in a single maternal environment. Results showed the implication of gender and genotype in the hypothalamic transcriptome, with 51 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between genotypes and 10 DEGs between genders. Fourteen genotype by sex interactions were found, due to a higher genotype effect on transcriptome found in males. In fact, just 31 DEGs were identified when using only females but 158 using only males. A higher expression of genes related to mitochondrial activity in IBxIB male animals (ND3, ND4, ND5, UQCRC2 and ATP6) was found, which was related to a higher oxidative phosphorylation and greater reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide production. IBxLW male animals showed higher expression of SIRT3 regulator, also related to mitochondrial function. When females were analysed, such differences were not found, since only some differences in genes related to the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Thus, the results indicate a significant effect and interaction of the breed and the sex on the hypothalamic transcriptome at this early age.

Iberian pigs and its crosses are produced to obtain high-quality meat products. The objective of this work was to evaluate a wide panel of DNA markers, selected by biological and functional criteria, for association with traits related to muscle growth, fatness, meat quality and metabolism. We used 18 crossbred Iberian pigs with divergent postnatal growth patterns for whole genome sequencing and SNP discovery, with over 13 million variants being detected. We selected 1023 missense SNPs located on annotated genes and showing different allele frequencies between pigs with makerdly different growth patterns. We complemented this panel with 192 candidate SNPs obtained from literature mining and from muscle RNAseq data. The selected markers were genotyped in 480 Iberian × Duroc pigs from a commercial population, in which phenotypes were obtained, and an association study was performed for the 1005 successfully genotyped SNPs showing segregation. The results confirmed the effects of several known SNPs in candidate genes (such as LEPR, ACACA, FTO, LIPE or SCD on fatness, growth and fatty acid composition) and also disclosed interesting effects of new SNPs in less known genes such as LRIG3, DENND1B, SOWAHB, EPHX1 or NFE2L2 affecting body weight, average daily gain and adiposity at different ages, or KRT10, NLE1, KCNH2 or AHNAK affecting fatness and FA composition. The results provide a valuable basis for future implementation of marker-assisted selection strategies in swine and contribute to a better understanding of the genetic architecture of relevant traits.