Genomic analysis of the rare British Lop pig and identification of distinctive genomic markers

G Banos, Andrea Talenti, Dimitros Chatziplis, Enrique Sánchez-Molano*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
41 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Concentration of production on a few commercial pig breeds has led to the marginalization of many native, numerically small breeds, increasing their risk of endangerment. In the UK, one such rare breed is the British Lop, a lop-eared breed, of similar origin to the Welsh breed. The objective of the present study was to address the genomic status of the British Lop and its relationship with other breeds and identify a small set of genomic markers that uniquely characterize and distinguish British Lop animals. Results have shown that the British Lop is a relatively distinct population with reduced genomic diversity and effective size consistent with its status as a rare breed. Furthermore, we demonstrated the genetic closeness of the British Lop to phenotypically similar breeds such as Landrace and Welsh as well Large White, Middle White and Pietrain. Finally, a set of 75 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms distributed across multiple chromosomes were identified and validated as markers that can consistently distinguish British Lops from other closely related breeds. Results may inform breeding and management strategies aiming to enhance diversity as well as the development of a breed purity test.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0271053
Pages (from-to)1-19
Number of pages19
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume17
Issue number8
Early online date12 Aug 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPrint publication - Aug 2022

Keywords

  • Genomic analysis
  • Pig farming
  • Population genomics
  • SNP identification
  • Animals
  • Genome/genetics
  • Swine
  • Genomics
  • Genotype
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

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