Liver gene expression patterns in pigs as indicators of serum plasma levels and meat quality atributes

In pigs, most of the lipogenic activity takes place in liver and the adipose tissue. Moreover, liver is responsible for the production and release of lipoproteins, which transports lipids from the liver to target tissues such as adipose and muscle. In the context of animal production, the amount and composition of lipoprotein have an implication in the accumulation of fat in adipose deposits but also in muscle in the form or intramuscular fat. These two events have consequences in the quality of the carcasses and meat. We have measured the level of liver gene expression in 104 commercial Duroc pigs belonging to two groups with extreme phenotypes for traits strongly related with lipid deposition and composition. This has allowed us to compare the physiological and metabolic implications of selecting for each of these extreme groups. This information has been complemented with genome-wide genotyping data in order to describe the implication of the liver transcriptome in the production traits which encompass the production and marketing of the products with consumer and industry-relevant added-value characteristics.

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