The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene is the major candidate gene for coat color in pig since it is assumed to be controlled by an allele at the Extension (E) locus.
A 702 by fragments of the MC1R gene were amplified by PCR, cloned and sequenced from 6 heads of Korean native pig. Of them, 4 pigs possessed allele#2 which is associated with black coat color in pig, the others had allele#1 which revealed a unique allele in European wild boar reported by Kijas et al. (1998).
PCR-RFLP was carried out to observe their alleles from 6 different pig breeds including Korean native pig, Berkshire, Duroc, Landrace, Large White, and Meishan pig. Two pairs of primers were designed for amplifying the MC1R gene fragment corresponding to five polymorphic sites. PCR products were digested 5 different restriction enzymes. Nsp I , MspA 1 I , Rca I , Hha I and Acc II , and electrophoresed in 2.5% Metaphor agarose gel.
All breeds except for Korean native and Meishan breeds were the same alleles reported by Kijas et al. (1998). Of 9 Meishan pigs tested in this study, 4 heads possessed the same allele, 5 heads were different alleles reported by Kijas et al. (1998). A total of 15 different alleles revealed in Korean native pig. The results of this study strongly suggest that black coat color in Korean native breed was associated with a constitutively active receptor at codon 99 (L99P).
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