| Abstract: | The purpose of this study was to identify candidate genes associated with reproduction traits and explore the available molecular marker in British Landrace pig breed. The PCR-RFLP technique was applied to analyze the distribution of estrogen receptor (ESR), retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4), leptin (LEP) and follicle-stimulating hormone β (FSHβ) genes in British Landrace pigs. The genetic effects of ESR, RBP4, LEP and FSHβ on the reproductive traits included total number born, number born alive, weaning weight of litter, weaning piglet, which were analyzed by using least square method of SPSS 19.0 software. This results demonstrated that A was dominant allele in ESR, RBP4, LEP genes, and B was dominant allele in FSHβ gene. The result of χ2 test showed that the polymorphic sites of LEP, FSHβ genes were fit with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P>0.05), while this site of ESR and RBP4 were not fit with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P<0.01). In addition, the statistical analysis indicated that the total number born, number born alive and number of alive weaning litter with BB genotype of LEP were higher than AA genotype, which were significantly increased by 1.3219, 1.6855 and 1.1710 (P<0.05), respectively;The FSHβ loci had a remarkable effect on reproductive performance, the average weaning weight with BB genotype was significantly higher than AA genotype, which was significantly increased by 5.1129 kg (P<0.05). The ESR and RBP4 loci had no significant effect on reproductive traits (P>0.05), while the LEP and FSHβ genes were valuable candidates for possible marker-assisted selection in British Landrace pigs population. |
