IDENTIFICATION OF GENES CONTROLLING ECONOMIC TRAITS IN PIG

¹ Laboratoire de Génétique Cellulaire, INRA BP 27 31326 Castanet-Tolosan Cedex France

² Department of Animal Production and Animal Health, Division of Animal Genetics, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Groennegaardsvej 3, 1870 Frederiksberg C Denmark

³ Institut für Tierzuchtwissenschaft Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn Endenicher Allee 15 53115 Bonn, GERMANY

⁴ Sez. Allevamenti Zootecnici - DIPROVAL - Università di Bologna Via Fratelli Rosselli 107, Villa Levi - Coviolo - 42100 Reggio Emilia ITALY

⁵ Infobiogen, 7 rue Guy Moquet BP 894801, Villejuif, France

The current genetic map of the pig is built with markers, essentially microsatellites, spaced at approximately 5-20 cM intervals over at least 90% of the genome. However, the number of mapped genes is relatively low, approximately 400, and it is difficult to directly identify causal genes or candidates for specific quantitative traits. A higher density of mapped genes should thus be attained. The objective of the GENETPIG European project is to significantly increase this number of mapped genes by localizing 700 ESTs (Expressed Sequence Tags) on the pig map. These ESTs originate mainly from cDNA libraries from various pig tissues or organs (liver, muscle, ovarian cells, small intestine); a second approach is to use human ESTs, already mapped in human, in heterologous conditions to increase the amount of comparative data. It is highly desirable to link maps of pig and human, given the conservation of synteny between these two species (and more generally between mammals), and the large amount of data accumulated in human species. Chromosomal localization of these various ESTs is achieved by using somatic cell hybrid panel, either conventional, or irradiated, which gives a higher resolution and allows ordering of the markers. Within this project, which include participants from Denmark, France, Germany and Italy, more than 220 new genes have already been placed on the pig map; approximately 75% of these markers have been localized by using both panels, in order to increase the usefulness of the new, irradiated panel.