Abstract
Nel-like molecule-1 (NELL1), discovered in prematurely fused cranial sutures, is a secreted osteogenic growth factor and plays an important role in osteoblast differentiation, bone formation, regeneration and adipose differentiation and cell focal adhesion. The RBCC protein interacting with protein kinase C1 (RBCK1) is a nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling protein and possesses transcriptional and ubiquitin ligase activities. RBCK1 is involved in immune regulation, antiviral signaling, iron and xenobiotic metabolism and cancer. This study was to genotype single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of NELL1 and RBCK1 with PCR-RFLP in the Pietrain (Pi) and Duroc × Pietrain (DuPi) F2 population. The SNPs of porcine NELL1 were associated with backfat (middle) in Pi population and with conductivity 45 min and 24 h post mortem in ham (Con24H) in DuPi population. The SNP in RBCK1 was associated with backfat (middle), muscle area in Pi population and with shoulder weight, daily gain (from 30 to 105 kg), meat color, pH 24 h p.m. in loin and ham (pH24L and pH24H) and thawing loss in DuPi population. Haplotypes were constructed within NELL1 and SOX-6, where two SNPs in each gene showed significant associations. It was found that the haplotypes of SOX-6 were associated with net daily gain and meat color in Pi population. At the same time, the haplotypes of NELL1 were associated with backfat (middle) in Pi population. In this study, we found that the polymorphisms of NELL1 and RBCK1 were associated with porcine growth, carcass and meat quality traits. The association and explained variance of SNPs into haplotypes generally normalized the association of involved each SNP to the respect traits in Pi population. However, the haplotypes of SOX-6 were associated with net daily gain, which is not found for either SNPs of SOX-6 in our previous work. This may indicate the existence of other valuable SNPs in porcine SOX-6 loci. This report shows that NELL1 and RBCK1 could be potential candidate genes for porcine growth, carcass and meat quality traits.