Genetic variability of Nero Lucano pig breed at IGF2, LEP, MC4R, PIK3C3, RYR1 and VRTN loci

The Nero Lucano pig is a native breed of Southern Italy which thanks to the joint action of Basilicata Region Institutions, University of Basilicata and breeders returned to populate the area of origin. In order to characterise and to monitor the variability present in the population, we genotyped 229 animals at 12 polymorphic loci located in the following genes: IGF2, LEP, MC4R, PIK3C3, RYR1 and VRTN. According to the results three loci (IGF2 209G>C, PIK3C3 2058A>G and RYR1 1843C>T) did not show variability, while the others showed genotype distributions in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and a minor allele frequency ranging from 0.022 for MC4R 892A to 0.479 for PIK3C3 2604T alleles. The IGF2, MC4R and VRTN loci were characterised by very low frequencies (from 0.02 to 0.05) of the alleles that are associated with favourable productive characteristics in cosmopolitan breeds.Highlights Analyses of the genetic variability of Nero Lucano pig population useful for meat production selection plans. The IGF2, MC4R and VRTN loci of Nero Lucano pig show very low frequencies of alleles associated with positive effects on meat production. The Nero Lucano pig can be considered as free from Malignant Hyperthermia, a positive result for the quality of cured meat products.