Coat Color and Coat Color Related Genes in Pigs

Abstract

The pig is thought to have been domesticated about 7, 000 years ago in the Europe, Near East and Asia, independelltly. Various coat colors are seen in pigs namely wild type uniform black, uniform red, black spotting or black domino spots, black and red piebald, black with white points, white, sepia hair, roan or gray, blue etc. Up unti now, several genetic loci were postulated based on the results of crossbreeding tests, these are: agouti, brown and albinism, dilution, extension, white, white head or Hereford locus etc. However, several coat color related genes have now been identified in animals, including endothelin and endothelin receptor, the mast/stem cell growth factor receptor KIT and its ligand SCF or MITF, tyrosinase and its related proteins which participate in the production of melanin, melanocyte stimulating hormone receptor (MC1R), aipha MSH, agouti protein, etc. In pigs, two genetic loci, extension (E) locus and white (I) locus have now been elucidated at the molecular level and they correspond to the genes MC1R and KIT, respectively.