Genome-wide association study identifies markers associated with meat ultimate pH in Duroc pigs

In this study we aimed to identify genomic regions associated with muscle pH, meat colour and water-holding capacity in a population of 280 Italian Duroc pigs genotyped by the Illumina PorcineSNP60 v2 Genotyping BeadChip. After quality control, the remaining 32 597 SNPs and 278 subjects were used to perform a genome-wide association study with the GENABEL package, using a kinship matrix in a model with the effects of sex, age and slaughter day. Bonferroni correction was applied, and the significant markers and regions were then further investigated to identify the nearest genes and the linkage disequilibrium (LD) between markers. Four markers (ASGA0082344, ASGA0095635, DBWU0000985 and CASI0005117) were significantly associated with ultimate pH (pHu); no significant association was detected for the other traits. The four significant variants, located from 16.841 to 17.643 Mb on chromosome 3, were found within or close to the sequences of the sulfatase modifying factor 2 (SUMF2), lysine acetyltransferase 8 (KAT8), serine protease 8 (PRSS8) and phosphorylase kinase catalytic subunit gamma 2 (PHKG2) genes. The four associated markers lie in two LD blocks, suggesting that the observed effect is related to mutations located in two regions: the first one where SUMF2 is mapped and the second one where genes KAT8, PRSS8 and PHKG2 are located.