On growth, fatness, and form: a further look at porcine chromosome 4 in an Iberian x Landrace cross.

A crossed population between Iberian x Landrace pigs consisting of 321 F2, 87 F3, and 85 backcross individuals has been analyzed to refine the number and positions of quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting shape, growth, fatness, and meat quality traits in SSC4. A multitrait multi-QTL approach has been used. Our results suggest that carcass length and shoulder weight are affected by two loci. The first one, close to the AFABP gene, has a very strong pleiotropic effect on fatness, whereas the second one, in the interval between S0073 and S0214, also affects live weight, although to a lesser extent. This latter QTL would correspond to the FAT1 locus described initially in pigs. It seems that SSC4's loci play an important role in redistributing total weight, and the Landrace allele increases shoulder weight and carcass length much more than ham or total weight. Furthermore, there is also strong evidence of additional loci influencing pH and color in more distant, telomeric positions.