ABSTRACT: Purebred Duroc and Yorkshire sows were
crossed with Göttingen minipig boars to obtain two separate
F2 intercross resource populations (n=287 and 279
respectively). Several obesity, metabolic and slaughter
measurements were recorded from birth to slaughter (220 ±
45 days). In addition, body composition was determined at
about two months of age (64 ± 11 days) via dual-energy xray
absorptiometry (DXA) scanning. All pigs were
genotyped using Illumina Porcine 60k SNP Beadchip and a
combined LDLA approach was used to perform genomewide
linkage and association analysis for body fat traits.
Subsequently bioinformatic analysis was performed to
identify genes in close proximity of chromosomal positions
where statistically significant QTLs were identified. Several
important genes previously linked to obesity (e.g. BBS4,
CHRNA2, DLK1), along with other novel genes were
identified, that together provide novel insights that may
further the current understanding of the molecular
mechanisms underlying human obesity.