A genome‐wide association analysis for carcass traits in a commercial Duroc pig population

Summary We performed a genome‐wide association study to map the genetic determinants of carcass traits in 350 Duroc pigs typed with the Porcine SNP 60 BeadChip. Association analyses were carried out using the gemma software. The proportion of phenotypic variance explained by the SNP s ranged between negligible to moderate ( = 0.01–0.30) depending on the trait under consideration. At the genome‐wide level, we detected one significant association between backfat thickness between the 3 rd and 4 th ribs and six SNP s mapping to SSC 12 (37–40 Mb). We also identified several chromosome‐wide significant associations for ham weight ( SSC 11: 51–53 Mb, three SNP s; 67–68 Mb, two SNP s), carcass weight ( SSC 11: 66–68 Mb, two SNP s), backfat thickness between the 3 rd and 4 th ribs ( SSC 12: 21 Mb, one SNP ; 33–40 Mb, 17 SNP s; 51–58 Mb, two SNP s), backfat thickness in the last rib ( SSC 12: 37 Mb, one SNP ; 40–41 Mb, nine SNP s) and lean meat content ( SSC 13: 34 Mb, three SNP s and SSC 16: 45.1 Mb, one SNP ; 62–63 Mb, 10 SNP s; 71–75 Mb, nine SNP s). The ham weight trait‐associated region on SSC 11 contains two genes ( UCHL 3 and LMO 7 ) related to muscle development. In addition, the ACACA gene, which encodes an enzyme for the catalysis of fatty acid synthesis, maps to the SSC 12 (37–41 Mb) region harbouring trait‐associated regions for backfat thickness traits. Sequencing of these candidate genes may help to uncover the causal mutations responsible for the associations found in the present study.