Abstract:

【Objective】 Porcine sperm adhesion molecule 1 (SPAM1) gene plays an important role in fertilization. It is an important candidate gene for porcine litter size. In this study, identification of genetic variation of SPAM1 gene and association study with litter size were carried out. 【Method】 Detection of polymorphisms of intron1 g298 C＞T, intron1 g357 C＞T and intron3 g380 C＞T and construction of haplotypes were carried out in 305 F2 sows from a white Duroc × Erhualian resource population, whose litter size was recorded in detail in 3 subsequent parities. Association study of genotypes of each SNP and haplotypes with total number born (TNB), number born alive (NBA) and number stillborn (NSB) was also performed. 【Result】 The results showed that, compared to individuals of CT and TT at SNP intron1 g298 C＞T, individuals of CC had significantly less TNB and NBA (P＜0.05). Sows of CT had significantly higher number of NSB than sows of TT (P＜0.05). For SNP intron1 g357 C＞T, the CT sows produced significantly more NSB compared to CC and TT individuals. And for SNP intron3 g380 C＞T, CC individuals had significantly less NBA and more NSB than CT individuals. Six haplotypes were constructed in this study. Haplotype TTT showed significantly higher TNB and NBA than the other 5 haplotypes. Individuals of TCT and TTC had significantly less NSB than individuals of CTC, TTT and TCC (P＜0.05). 【Conclusion】 SPAM1 gene has significant association with porcine litter size.

Key words: SPAM1, SNPs, haplotype, litter size, pig