Genetic Structure and Genome-Wide Association Analysis of Growth and Reproductive Traits in Fengjing Pigs

Simple Summary In this study; the Fengjing pig was taken as the research object to explore the degree of its genetic diversity and deeply explore its excellent traits. Analyzing the population's genetic structure and mining the important candidate functional genes provide a theoretical basis for the conservation and utilization of Fengjing pig germplasm resources.Abstract The Fengjing pig is one of the local pig breed resources in China and has many excellent germplasm characteristics. However, research on its genome is lacking. To explore the degree of genetic diversity of the Fengjing pig and to deeply explore its excellent traits, this study took Fengjing pigs as the research object and used the Beadchip Array Infinium iSelect-96|XT KPS_PorcineBreedingChipV2 for genotyping. We analyzed the genetic diversity, relatedness, inbreeding coefficient, and population structure within the Fengjing pig population. Our findings revealed that the proportion of polymorphic markers (PN) was 0.469, and the effective population size was 6.8. The observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.301 and 0.287, respectively. The G-matrix results indicated moderate relatedness within the population, with certain individuals exhibiting closer genetic relationships. The NJ evolutionary tree classified Fengjing boars into five family lines. The average inbreeding coefficient based on ROH was 0.318, indicating a high level of inbreeding. GWAS identified twenty SNPs significantly associated with growth traits (WW, 2W, and 4W) and reproductive traits (TNB and AWB). Notably, WNT8B, RAD21, and HAO1 emerged as candidate genes influencing 2W, 4W, and TNB, respectively. Genes such as WNT8B were verified by querying the PigBiobank database. In conclusion, this study provides a foundational reference for the conservation and utilization of Fengjing pig germplasm resources and offers insights for future molecular breeding efforts in Fengjing pigs.