Genetic Variation And Differentiation Of Nuclear DNA And Mitochondrial DNA In The Taihu Pig

Genetic analyses were coducted on 4 strains of Taihu pig, i.e., Erhualian, Meishan, Fengjing and Mi pigs and 3 other breeds of pig , i.e., Jiangquhai, Xiang and Yorkshire pigs. Discrete genetic markersanalyzed in the present study including arbitrary regions of the genome DNA amplified by the polymerase chian reaction (KAPD-PCR) and mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (mtDNA RFLP).Forty primers (Kit G and Kit H, Opreon Technologies) were tested in the primary screening with the 7 strains and breeds. 234 amplified fragments were produced using 31 of the primers. About half, i.e., 118, of the fragments could be detected from all the 7 strains and breeds.The rest 116 are polymorphic fragments in the Taihu pig and the 3 other breeds. Furthermore, the occurrence of 25 of the latter was different among the 4 strains of Taihu pig. Breed—specific and strain—specific fragments were identified.The proportion of shared fragments between the 4 strains of Taihu pig was 0.9692 for Erhualian—Meishan, 0.9584 for Erhualian —Fengj ing, 0.9611 for Erhualian—Mi, 0-9613 for Meishan —Fengjing, 0.9592 for Meishan-Mi and 0.9479 for Fengjing — Mi pigs. That between the Taihu pig and the 3 other breeds was largest for Taihu-Jiangqugai, next for Taihu — Xiang and smallest for Taihu—Yorkshire.