Variants in BMP7 and BMP15 3’-UTRs Associated with Reproductive Traits in a Large White Pig Population

Abstract

Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (<i>BMP7</i>) and <i>BMP15</i>, which encode members of the BMP family, have been identified by whole-genome resequencing as breeding-related genes that overlap with a known quantitative trait locus for reproductive traits. In this study, we investigated the effects of variants at the <i>BMP7</i> and <i>BMP15</i> gene loci on sow reproductive traits. We isolated 669 and 1213 bp sequences of the 3'-untranslated region (3'-<i>UTR</i>) of the porcine <i>BMP7</i> and <i>BMP15</i> genes, respectively, and detected several RNA regulatory elements, such as miRNA response elements and AU-rich elements. Pooled DNA sequencing identified two novel point mutations (viz., <i>BMP7</i> c.1569A>G and <i>BMP15</i> c.2366G>A) in the 3'-<i>UTR</i>. Association analysis showed that the c.1569A>G polymorphism was associated with the litter weight trait in a Large White pig population. Furthermore, analysis of the combined genetic effects revealed that <i>AA</i>/<i>GA</i> and AG/<i>GG</i> were the favorable combined genotypes for the total number of piglets born (TNB) and the total number of piglets born alive (NBA), whereas. Together, our findings confirm that <i>BMP7</i> and <i>BMP15</i> are candidate genes for porcine reproductive performance.