Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-05-27

Identification of dna markers for pig meat quality

Objective

Pork meat quality is an economically important and complex trait for which determinants remain mostly unknown. Since meat quality measurements cannot be taken on a live animal it is an important trait where marker-assisted-selection could be applied. Recent studies have shown that a significant component of meat quality variation is genetic. However, only two major genes, which impact on pork meat quality, have been discovered to date, the 'Halothane' and 'RN' genes. Their discovery has led to the creation of DNA markers to select slaughter pigs with improved meat quality. In 2001, the EC funded the 'Quality Pork Genes' project, developed by PIC in association with several European institutions, aiming at ultimately to identify genes involved in meat quality traits. As part of this project, meat quality measurements and RNA, protein and also DNA samples will be collected on animals from divergent breeds with different meat quality characteristics. Association studies between these meat quality traits and gene expression differences between the divergent breeds will be performed in order to identify genes involved in meat quality variation. Using these resources, we plan to identify a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In this new project, SNPs present in ~400 genes expressed in pig muscle will be identified. The allele frequency of 100 of these SNPs will be then determined in breeds selected for the 'Quality Pork Genes' project. In the last phase, association studies between these SNPs and meat quality traits will be performed. New markers associated with variation in pig meat quality will be identified. These markers will be used to improve the quality of pork and pork products in marker-assisted-selection programs.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Data not available

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

Data not available

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

BUR - Bursaries, grants, fellowships

Coordinator

SYGEN INTERNATIONAL PLC
EU contribution
No data
Address
PIC Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Universit
CB2 1QP CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom

See on map

Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0