Genet. Sel. Evol. 40 (2008) 227-239
DOI: 10.1051/gse:2007046

Expression pattern and polymorphism of three microsatellite markers in the porcine CA3 gene

Jian Wu¹, Donghai Zhou², Changyan Deng³, Yuanzhu Xiong³, Minggang Lei³, Fenge Li³, Siwen Jiang³, Bo Zuo³ and Rong Zheng<sup>3

1</sup>  Department of Basic Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agriculture University, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China
²  Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agriculture University, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China
³  Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Swine Genetics and Breeding of Ministry of Agriculture, Huazhong Agriculture University, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China

(Received 12 February 2007; accepted 21 August 2007; published online 27 February 2008)

Abstract - Carbonic anhydrase III (CA3) is an abundant muscle protein characteristic of adult type-1, slow-twitch, muscle fibres. In order to further understand the functions of the porcine CA3 protein in muscle, the temporal and spatial distributions of its gene product were analysed and the association between the presence of specific polymorphisms and carcass traits in the pig was also examined. Real-time PCR revealed that the CA3 mRNA expression showed no differences with age in skeletal muscles from Yorkshire pigs at postnatal day-1, month-2, and month-4. We provide the first evidence that CA3 is differentially expressed in the skeletal muscle of Yorkshire and Meishan pig breeds. In addition, the whole pig genomic DNA sequence of CA3 was investigated and shown to contain seven exons and six introns. Comparative sequencing of the gene from three pig breeds revealed the existence of microsatellite SJ160 in intron 5 and microsatellite SJ158 and a novel microsatellite marker that includes a tandem repeat of in intron 4. We also determined the allele number and frequencies of the three loci in seven pig breeds and found that they are low polymorphic microsatellite markers. Statistical analysis showed that the CA3 microsatellite polymorphism was associated with dressing percentage, internal fat rate, carcass length, rib number and backfat thickness in the pig.

Key words: pig / carbonic anhydrase III / expression pattern / microsatellite polymorphism

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