Molecular characteristics of porcine SIM1 gene and its variants association with carcass and meat quality traits

In the present study, the cDNA sequence of porcine SIM1 gene was cloned by homology cloning and rapid amplification of cDNA ends approach. The full length cDNA of cDNA of SIM1 consists of 3720 bp nucleotides. It contains an Open Reading Fame (ORF) of 2301 bp which encodes a corresponding protein in 766 amino acid residues and flanked by 461 bp 5' UTR and 958 bo 3' UTR. The porcine SIM1 protein has a high homology to that of human and cattle. Expression analysis revealed an ubiquitous distribution in all examined tissues. Two novel single nucleotid polymorphisms (SNPs) c+534 T > C and c+1677 C > T were found. Association analysis between SNPs and carcass and meat quality traits were carried out in a Pietrain x Jinhua F2 population (n =294). The results revealed extremely significant effect on average backfat thickness, intramuscular fat content, intramuscular water content, ham temperature, ham fat weight and ham lean weight (p < 0.01) along with significant effect on loin eye area and ham pH (p < 0.05).