The Pampa-Rocha pig as an animal genetic resource in Uruguay Molecular markers

Paper presented at the III Ibero-American Symposium on the Conservation of Local Animal Genetic Resources and Sustainable Rural Development

Abstract

The origin of Pampa-Rocha pig breed still remains to be elucidated, but it is believed that it might have resulted from the crossbreeding of pigs introduced during the Spanish colonization (1500) and other British and American breeds such as Poland China and Berkshire. This crossbreeding event took place in the 1900-1920 period. The objective of this work is to study the genetic variability of Pampa-Rocha by means of molecular markers, as well as to determine the original breeds involved in the formation of this Uruguay autochtonous breed. Ten animals were typed for 9 microsatellites (MS), recommended by the FAO for performing diversity studies. In addition, 6 animals were sequenced for 131 bp region of the cytochrome B (CytB) gene of the mitochondrial DNA (mit DNA). Cytochrome B haplotypes allow to determine the European and/or Asian origin of pig breeds. The mean number of MS alleles was 4,55 and the Heterozigosity Index (HI) was 0,653. According to the number of MS alleles observed, it is concluded that the studied Pampa-Rocha population presents a high level of polymorphism. Reggarding to Pampa-Rocha breed formation, its most probable origin might have been from european breeds, some of them introgressed with asian breeds, as shown by material mitDNA.