Analysis of coat colour genes for traceability of Cinta Senese products

Cinta Senese is a white belted pig breed native of Central Italy. Market prices of Cinta Senese (CS) of fresh and cured products are very high and this is due to the quality of the raw material. Assurance that products are made using only CS individuals is what consumers want. Therefore the institution of a protocol for a DNA-based traceability of Cinta Senese products is desirable. Coat colour genes could allow to distinguish this belted breed from the most widespread breeds reared in Italy. Four polymorphisms at locus MC1R and one at locus KIT were analyzed in 180 Cinta Senese (CS) purebred, 18 F1 Large White x CS and 15 F1 Duroc x CS individuals. Cinta Senese is homozygous i/i at locus KIT, whereas it shows two allelic forms at locus MC1R: MC1R*6 and MC1R*3. The results confirm that it is possible to distinguish Cinta Senese from both white and red pig breeds and even from crossbred animals. The suggested protocol might consist in a PCR test genotyping KIT locus combined with at least one of the RFLPs test at the MC1R locus. Furthermore, sequencing of the PCR products were performed in order to validate the protocol.