• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.741-746
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• 2011

Tanning ability is important, because it represents the ability of the skin to protect itself against ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Here, we sought to determine genetic regions associated with tanning ability. Skin pigmentation was measured at the outer forearm and buttock areas to represent facultative and constitutive skin color, respectively. In our study population consisting of isolated Mongolian subjects, with common histories of environmental UV exposure during their nomadic life, facultative skin color adjusted by constitutive skin color was used to indicate tanning ability. Through linkage analysis and family-based association tests of 345 Mongolian subjects, we identified 2 potential linkage regions regulating tanning ability on 5q35.3 and 12q13.2, having 6 and 7 significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), respectively. Those significant SNPs were located in or adjacent to potential candidate genes related to tanning ability: GRM6, ATF1, WNT1, and SILV/Pmel17.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.1194-1204
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• 2023

Meat quality comprises a set of key traits such as pH, meat color, water-holding capacity, tenderness and marbling. These traits are complex because they are affected by multiple genetic and environmental factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular genetic basis underlying nine meat quality-related traits in a Yorkshire pig population using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and subsequent biological pathway analysis. In total, 45,926 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers from 543 pigs were selected for the GWAS after quality control. Data were analyzed using a genome-wide efficient mixed model association (GEMMA) method. This linear mixed model-based approach identified two quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for meat color (b^*) on chromosome 2 (SSC2) and one QTL for shear force on chromosome 8 (SSC8). These QTLs acted additively on the two phenotypes and explained 3.92%-4.57% of the phenotypic variance of the traits of interest. The genes encoding HAUS8 on SSC2 and an lncRNA on SSC8 were identified as positional candidate genes for these QTLs. The results of the biological pathway analysis revealed that positional candidate genes for meat color (b^*) were enriched in pathways related to muscle development, muscle growth, intramuscular adipocyte differentiation, and lipid accumulation in muscle, whereas positional candidate genes for shear force were overrepresented in pathways related to cell growth, cell differentiation, and fatty acids synthesis. Further verification of these identified SNPs and genes in other independent populations could provide valuable information for understanding the variations in pork quality-related traits.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.703-710
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• 2018

Bromodomain-containing protein 2 (BRD2) is a nuclear serine/threonine kinase involved in transcriptional regulation. We investigated the expression and association of the BRD2 gene as a candidate gene for meat quality traits in Berkshire pigs. BRD2 mRNA was expressed at relatively high levels in muscle tissue. Statistical analysis revealed that the c.1709G>C polymorphism of the BRD2 gene was significantly associated with carcass weight, meat color ($a^*$, redness), protein content, cooking loss, water-holding capacity, carcass temperatures 4, 12 and 24 h postmortem, and the 24 h postmortem pH in 384 Berkshire pigs. Therefore, this polymorphism in the porcine BRD2 gene may be used as a candidate genetic marker to improve meat quality traits in pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1219-1227
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• 2014

A whole genome association (WGA) study was carried out to find quantitative trait loci (QTL) for sensory evaluation traits in Hanwoo. Carcass samples of 250 Hanwoo steers were collected from National Agricultural Cooperative Livestock Research Institute, Ansung, Gyeonggi province, Korea, between 2011 and 2012 and genotyped with the Affymetrix Bovine Axiom Array 640K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chip. Among the SNPs in the chip, a total of 322,160 SNPs were chosen after quality control tests. After adjusting for the effects of age, slaughter-year-season, and polygenic effects using genome relationship matrix, the corrected phenotypes for the sensory evaluation measurements were regressed on each SNP using a simple linear regression additive based model. A total of 1,631 SNPs were detected for color, aroma, tenderness, juiciness and palatability at 0.1% comparison-wise level. Among the significant SNPs, the best set of 52 SNP markers were chosen using a forward regression procedure at 0.05 level, among which the sets of 8, 14, 11, 10, and 9 SNPs were determined for the respectively sensory evaluation traits. The sets of significant SNPs explained 18% to 31% of phenotypic variance. Three SNPs were pleiotropic, i.e. AX-26703353 and AX-26742891 that were located at 101 and 110 Mb of BTA6, respectively, influencing tenderness, juiciness and palatability, while AX-18624743 at 3 Mb of BTA10 affected tenderness and palatability. Our results suggest that some QTL for sensory measures are segregating in a Hanwoo steer population. Additional WGA studies on fatty acid and nutritional components as well as the sensory panels are in process to characterize genetic architecture of meat quality and palatability in Hanwoo.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.926-930
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• 2017

High-quality meat is of great economic importance to the pig industry. The 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferase 5 (AGPAT5) enzyme converts lysophosphatidic acid to phosphatidic acid in the mitochondrial membrane. In this study, we found that the porcine AGPAT5 gene was highly expressed in muscle tissue, influencing meat characteristics, and we also identified a non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism (nsSNP) (rs196952262, c.673 A>G) in the gene, associated with a change of isoleucine 225 to valine. The presence of this nsSNP was significantly associated with meat color (lightness), lower cooking loss, and lower carcass temperatures 1, 4, and 12 h after slaughter (items T1, T4, and T12 on the recognized quality scale, respectively), and tended to increase backfat thickness and the water-holding capacity. These results suggest that nsSNP (c.673A>G) of the AGPAT5 gene is a potential genetic marker of high meat quality in pigs.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.897-902
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• 2004

To improve the methods used for the identification of Hanwoo, we performed a PCR using 3 -tailed primer associated with single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP) in Melanocortin 1 receptor(MCIR) gene. MCIR plays an important role in melanin synthesis and the SNP within MCIR was used as a target for PCRRFLP studies previously. A forward 3 -tailed primer, which matches with the template DNA of Hanwoo but not with others(blackhaired; Holstein and Black angus) at the site of 594th base sequence, and one reverse primer were designed for this study. When use this primer set, a size of 343bp was amplified by PCR only in Hanwoo, not in Holstein and Black angus. This result suggests that the PCR using our 3 -tailed primer would be very accurate, easy, reproducible and economic method to discriminate between Hanwoo meat and other black-haired ones.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2017

Hypsizygus marmoreus is a mushroom with abundant flavor and medicinal properties. However, its application is limited by problems such as long cultivation period, low biological efficiency, and microbiological contamination; therefore, there is a substantial need for development of new cultivars of this species. In this study, 55 strains of H. marmoreus were subjected to inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis to identify markers for the selection of mother strains for breeding from the collected germplasm. ISSR 13 and 15 were confirmed as polymorphic markers. The three strains (KMCC03106, KMCC03107, and KMCC03108) with white cap color were found to be genetically closely related upon UPGMA analysis of both ISSR 13 and 15. Based on the PCR analysis results for ISSR 15, the collected germplasm were differentiated into three groups according to the strain collection year. Thus, ISSR 15 could be a marker for determining the phylogeny of cap color and genetic variations according to the strain collection year. These results suggest that ISSR markers can be effective tools for the selection of mother strains for breeding of H. marmoreus.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.987-994
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• 2023

This study examined the associations between the genotypes of the galactose mutarotase (GALM) gene and carcass traits in the Hanwoo population of Jeju Island, South Korea. The GALM genotypes were determined by the 14-bp (5'-GGTCTAATGACCAG-3') insertion/deletion (InDel) polymorphisms of the 3'-untranslated region (UTR). All three genotypes (LL, LS, and SS) were found in the Hanwoo steer population. The association analysis showed significant associations between genotypes and several carcass traits, including traits related to intramuscular fat content, such as meat quality, marbling score, and backfat thickness (p<0.05). Animals harboring the SS genotype showed not only higher levels of intramuscular fat content but also lower levels of backfat thickness than animals harboring the LL and LS genotypes. On the other hand, no significant associations were found between the GALM genotypes and carcass weight, eye muscle area, meat color, or fat color (p>0.05). Deleting the 14-bp segment in the 3'-UTR resulted in the modification of the secondary structure of RNA and appeared to affect gene expression by interfering with the binding ability of GALM mRNA with RNA-binding proteins and microRNAs. These results suggest that the 14-bp InDel polymorphism in the 3'-UTR region of the GALM gene affects cattle growth traits and carcass quality through galactose metabolism-mediated fat accumulation in muscle and backfat tissues.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.569-576
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• 2007

receptor(MC4R) gene and carcass traits was examined in randomly selected commercial pigs. A porcine MC4R gene was genotyped for Asp298Asn(nt. 892G>A) by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP). A total of three genotypes, A/A, A/G, and G/G, were found with 28.8, 22.8, and 48.4% frequencies, respectively. In the whole population, pigs containing 892A/- showed significantly higher marbling score than those of homozygotes G/G(P<0.05). Two homozygotes, A/A and G/G showed lower in meat color score but higher in water holding capacity than those of heterozygotes A/G(P<0.01). However, the carcass weight of the barrows containing wild type -/G was significantly higher(i.e. more than 2.5kg) than those of homozygotes A/A(P<0.05). The effects of each genotype on carcass traits in the gilts were similar to those of the whole population, but not in barrows, suggesting an unknown sex-related effect on carcass traits. This study suggested that the genotype MC4R A/- could improve the meat quality in the commercial pig production. However, since the genetic polymorphism of MC4R gene differentially affected the carcass traits in sex-related manner, therefore, both parameters, the sex and genotype, should be considered for marker-assisted selection in commercial pig production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1544-1550
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• 2008

The retinoids (vitamin A and its derivatives) play a critical role in vision, growth, reproduction, cell differentiation and embryonic development. Using the IMpRH panel, porcine cellular retinol binding protein genes 5 and 7 (RBP5 and RBP7) were assigned to porcine chromosomes 5 and 6, respectively. The complete coding sequences (CDS) of the RBP5 and RBP7 genes were amplified using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, and the deduced amino acid sequences of both genes were compared to human corresponding proteins. The mRNA distributions of the two genes in adult Wuzhishan pig tissues (lung, skeletal muscle, spleen, heart, stomach, large intestine, lymph node, small intestine, liver, brain, kidney and fat) were examined. A total of nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in two genes. Three of these SNPs were analyzed using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction-fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method in Laiwu, Wuzhishan, Guizhou, Bama, Tongcheng, Yorkshire and Landrace pig breeds. Association analysis of genotypes of these SNP loci with economic traits was done in our experimental populations. Significant associations of different genotypes of $RBP5-A/G^{63}$, $RBP5-A/G^{517}$ and $RPB5-T/C^{intron1-90}$ loci with traits including maximum carcass length (LM), minimum carcass length (LN), marbling score (MS), back fat thickness at shoulder (SBF), meat color score (MCS) and hematocrit (HCT) were detected. These SNPs may be useful as genetic markers in genetic improvement for porcine production.