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Genetic variation in recombination rate in the pig
Martin Johnsson1,2, Andrew Whalen3, Roger Ros-Freixedes3,4
1The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Midlothian, EH25 9RG, Scotland, UK. martin.johnsson@slu.se.
Genetics, Selection, Evolution : GSE
|June 26, 2021
Summary
Genetic variation in pig recombination rate shows low but non-zero heritability. Six genomic regions associated with recombination rate were identified, including known candidate genes, confirming vertebrate patterns.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Genomics
- Reproductive Biology
Background:
- Meiotic recombination facilitates genetic exchange between homologous chromosomes.
- Recombination rates exhibit significant variation across genomes, individuals, and are genetically influenced.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess genetic variation in recombination rate along the genome and between individuals in pigs.
- To estimate the heritability of recombination and conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for recombination rate in pigs.
Main Methods:
- Utilized multilocus iterative peeling analysis on a large dataset of 150,000 pigs from nine pedigrees.
- Estimated recombination heritability and performed GWAS to identify genomic regions associated with recombination rate.
Main Results:
- Confirmed known pig recombination landscape features, including chromosomal length differences and sex-specific variations.
- Identified six genomic regions associated with recombination rate, five containing known recombination-related genes (RNF212, SHOC1, SYCP2, MSH4, HFM1).
- Recombination rate showed low but significant heritability (0.07 in females, 0.05 in males) and repeatability between lines, with inter-line rate differences.
Conclusions:
- Pig recombination rate variation aligns with other vertebrates, showing low heritability and identifying a major locus homologous to those in other species.
- Large-scale livestock data proves valuable for understanding fundamental biological processes like recombination.
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