First Partial Sequencing of an Iberian Pig, Prized for Its Meat

Researchers of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and of the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, the National Institute for Agrarian Technology and Research in Madrid and Wageningen Research Center (WUR, the Netherlands) have published the first partial genome sequencing of an Iberian pig. Using next-generation sequencing techniques, researchers have been able to sequence and analyze 1% of the genome. This is the first time an individual pig genome-sequence has been published. The project, coordinated by ICREA researcher Miguel Pérez-Enciso, was published online on March 16, 2011, in the journal Heredity. The sequenced animal is an Iberian sow from the Guadyerbas strain, a highly particular line which has been kept isolated on an experimental farm belonging to the government of Castilla-La Mancha and located in Oropesa, near Toledo, since 1945, thanks to years of work by INIA researchers. The Guadyerbas line thus represents one of the first original strains of the Iberian pig in Spain. These animals have a good appetite, are slow-growing, obese, hairless and black-colored. UAB and INIA teams have used these animals in several experiments aimed at identifying the genetic basis of the highly reputed meat quality of Iberian pigs. Researchers expect therefore that a complete sequencing could offer clues to these and other characteristics. The sequenced animal is highly inbred, because the herd has been isolated for over 50 years. Researchers have taken this into account with the intention of using a particularly 'homogeneous' species presenting little variability. Nevertheless, data from the sequencing offers surprising results, such as a higher than expected level of variability.