Does progeny-testing of full-sibs IBD in a SSC2 QTL region highlight epistatic interactions for fatness traits in pigs?
Assuming the hypothesis of interactions with other chromosomal regions, the QTL could be unambiguously mapped to a 30 cM region delimited by recombination points. The marker-assisted backcrossing design was successfully used to confirm the segregation of a QTL on SSC2 and, because full-sibs that inherited the same alleles from their two parents were analysed, the detection of epistatic interactions could be performed between alleles and not between breeds as usually done with the traditional Line-Cross model. Additional analyses of other recombinant sires should provide more information to further improve the fine-mapping of this locus, and confirm or deny the interaction identified between chromosomes 2 and 13.
Despite modest associations with plasma resistin and inflammatory biomarkers, resistin 5' variants were not associated with metabolic parameters or coronary calcification. This suggests that resistin is an inflammatory cytokine in humans but has little influence on adiposity, metabolic syndrome or atherosclerosis.