Genome-wide mapping for fatty acid composition and melting point of fat in a purebred Duroc pig population

The fatty acid composition and melting point of fatty tissue are among the most important economic traits in pig breeding because of their influence on the eating quality of meat. Identifying the quantitative trait locus (QTL) of these traits may help reveal the genetic structure of fatty acid composition and the melting point of fatty tissue and improve meat-quality traits by marker-assisted selection. We conducted whole-genome QTL analysis for fatty acid composition and melting point of inner and outer subcutaneous fat and inter- and intramuscular fat in a purebred Duroc population. A total of 129 markers were genotyped and used for QTL analysis. For fatty acid compositions of inner and outer subcutaneous fat, three significant QTL and 17 suggestive QTL were detected on SSC2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 18. For the melting point of inner and outer subcutaneous fat, two significant QTL were detected on the same region of SSC14. For fatty acid compositions of inter- and intramuscular fat, five significant QTL and 13 suggestive QTL were detected on SSC2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14 and 15. On SSC14, significant QTL for C18:0 and C18:1 of outer subcutaneous fat and intramuscular fat, and melting point of subcutaneous fat, which had high likelihood of odds (LOD) scores (2.67-5.78), were detected in the same region. This study determined QTL affecting fatty acid composition and melting point of different fat tissues in purebred Duroc pigs.