China discovers copy number variations affecting pork quality traits

??? Recently, news came from the Swine Genetics and Breeding Innovation Team of the Beijing Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: by scanning copy number variations across the whole pig genome, the team obtained multiple gene copy number variations significantly associated with pork quality traits. Conducting a genome-wide association study of meat quality traits in pigs is the first of its kind internationally.

China's local pig breeds are world-renowned for their good meat quality. How to transfer the genetic advantages of China's local pig breeds, such as high intramuscular fat content, into the lean-type pigs that account for the vast majority of the market as quickly as possible without excessively affecting other traits is currently a major issue facing researchers. Studies have shown that, as one of the variations with the broadest genomic coverage, copy number variation plays an important role in many traits and is one of the most likely variations to explain the "missing heritability" beyond the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms.