The sequence and analysis of a Chinese pig genome

Xiaodong Fang, Yulian Mou, Zhiyong Huang, Yong Li, Lijuan Han, Yanfeng Zhang, Yue Feng, Yuanxin Chen, Xuanting Jiang, Wei Zhao, Xiaoqing Sun, Zhiqiang Xiong, Lan Yang, Huan Liu, Dingding Fan, Likai Mao, Lijie Ren, Chuxin Liu, Juan Wang, Kui Li, Guangbiao Wang, Shulin Yang, Liangxue Lai, Guojie Zhang, Yingrui Li, Jun Wang, Lars Bolund, Huanming Yang, Jian Wang, Shutang Feng, Songgang Li, Yutao Du

The pig is an economically important food source, amounting to approximately 40% of all meat consumed worldwide. Pigs also serve as an important model organism because of their similarity to humans at the anatomical, physiological and genetic level, making them very useful for studying a variety of human diseases. A pig strain of particular interest is the miniature pig, specifically the Wuzhishan pig (WZSP), as it has been extensively inbred. Its high level of homozygosity offers increased ease for selective breeding for specific traits and a more straightforward understanding of the genetic changes that underlie its biological characteristics. WZSP also serves as a promising means for applications in surgery, tissue engineering, and xenotransplantation. Here, we report the sequencing and analysis of an inbreeding WZSP genome. Our results reveal some unique genomic features, including a relatively high level of homozygosity in the diploid genome, an unusual distribution of heterozygosity, an over-representation of tRNA-derived transposable elements, a small amount of porcine endogenous retrovirus, and a lack of type C retroviruses. In addition, we carried out systematic research on gene evolution, together with a detailed investigation of the counterparts of human drug target genes. Our results provide the opportunity to more clearly define the genomic character of pig, which could enhance our ability to create more useful pig models.