Authors : Hideki Tanomura, Takuji Yamamoto, Youji Muramatsu, Takeshi Ohta and Takahisa Yamada
Abstract: Marbling defined by the amount and distribution of intramuscular fat, socalled Shimofuri is an economically important trait of beef cattle in Japan. A rat Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) responsible for intramuscular fat content has been mapped to the ~10-cM genomic region on chromosome 1 by utilizing the Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat and OLETF-derived congenic strain. In this study, we have attempted to identify the Quantitative Trait Gene (QTG) for the intramuscular fat content QTL by using the OLETF rat. For this purpose, we performed refinement of the intramuscular fat content QTL genomic region to a ~2.3-cM region by use of informative recombinants selected from the OLETF-derived congenic strain, functional retrieval of positional candidate gene, mRNA level analysis and polymorphism search of physiologically relevant positional candidate gene, Pnlip and analysis of cosegregation of the intramuscular fat content QTL with Variable Number of Tandem Repeat (VNTR) in Pnlip by use of informative recombinants. This study suggests that Pnlip encoding pancreatic lipase is the QTG for the intramuscular fat content QTL.
Hideki Tanomura, Takuji Yamamoto, Youji Muramatsu, Takeshi Ohta and Takahisa Yamada, 2011. Quantitative Trait Gene Responsible for Intramuscular Fat Content in the Rat. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 10: 841-846.