Comparison Of Two Pig Pedigrees Regarding The Effect Of The IGF2 Mutation On Backfat

Backfat thickness (BFT) is an economically important trait for which various QTL have been detected. Two analyses of similar Meishan x European F2 pedigrees carried out in France and in The Netherlands gave different results concerning the position and the imprinting status of a QTL detected in the telomeric part of SSC2. In 2000, de Koning et al. described a paternally expressed QTL at 36 cM on SSC2 whereas in 2002, Milan et al. described a QTL at 0 cM on SSC2, for which no imprinting effect was detected (Quintanilla et al., 2002). When the IGF2-intron3-G3072A mutation was described (Van Laere et al., 2003), Jungerius et al. (2004) showed that the paternally expressed QTL described by de Koning et al. was essentially explained by this mutation. On the contrary, Sanchez et al. (2006) showed that the IGF2-intron3-G3072A was not solely responsible for the growth and fatness QTL on SSC2. The aim of the present study was to combine these 2 pedigrees and understand the differences in QTL positions and imprinting status.