A genome-wide association study identifies genomic loci associated with backfat thickness, carcass weight, and body weight in two commercial pig populations.

Growth and fatness traits are economically important in the pig industry. To dissect the genetic architecture of these traits in commercial pigs, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for carcass weight, backfat thickness, and body weight in two commercial populations: Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire) (DLY) and Duroc populations. To enhance the detection power, three GWAS approaches including single-trait GWAS, multi-trait GWAS and meta-analysis were used in this study. A total of 13 suggestive loci were identified on nine chromosomes. The most significant locus was detected at 272.05 Mb on SSC1, and it was associated with backfat thickness at the first rib in the DLY population. Three genes at the identified loci (TBC1D1, BAAT and PHLPP1) were highlighted as functionally plausible candidate genes for pig growth and fatness traits. Genome-wide significant locus was not evidenced in this study, indicating that large populations are required to identify QTL with minor effects on growth and fatness traits in commercial pig populations, in which intensively artificial selections have been imposed on these traits and small genetical variances usually retain in these traits.