Plant & Animal Genome VI Conference

W59

USE OF AFLP FOR SWINE QTL DETECTION AND GENOME MAPPING

PIC Group, Fyfield Wick, Abingdon, Oxon, OX13 5NA, United Kingdom

AFLP is potentially a very powerful tool for swine genome research. We have used AFLP to generate new markers linked to the dominant white locus in swine using phenotypic pools to identify potential markers. Candidate markers are verified on individual samples and subsequently mapped using existing mapping populations. AFLP markers were found which mapped as was expected on chromosome 8. These markers were converted to simple PCR-RFLP tests for routine screening of some pig breeds. We have not estimated the map distance from the gene, however, recombinants have been identified and the markers are not portable to all lines. We are currently using the same approach to investigate the power of the technique to generate markers for QTL influencing a polygenic trait. A number of candidates have been identified and these will be mapped to determine if any of them are located in the same regions of the genome, which would be expected to be the case if they identify QTL. Finally, a large number of markers have been generated for addition to the swine genome map (PiGMaP). In the first analysis approximately 8% of the markers mapped to chromosome 1, with these markers showing good spacing across the chromosome.