SREL Reprint #3612

The genome of the naturally evolved obesity-prone Ossabaw miniature pig

Yaolei Zhang1,2,3,4, Guangyi Fan2,3,4, Xin Liu2,3,4, Kerstin Skovgaard1, Michael Sturek5,
and Peter M.H. Heegaard1,6

1Translational Immunology Group, Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine,
Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
2BGI-Qingdao, BGIShenzhen, Qingdao 266555, China
3BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
4China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518120, China
5Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology, & Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine,
Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
6Innate Immunology Group, Department of Health Technology,
Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

Abstract: The feral pigs of Ossabaw Island (USA) have an outstanding propensity to obesity and develop complete metabolic syndrome (MetS) upon prolonged high energy dieting. We now report the first high quality genome of the Ossabaw pig with Contig N50 of ~6.03 Mb, significantly higher than most other published pig genomes. Genomic comparison to Duroc reveals that variations including SNPs, INDELs and one ~2 Mb inversion identified in Ossabaw pig may be related to its ‘‘thrifty’’ phenotype. Finally, an important positively selected gene (PSG) was found to be LEPR (leptin receptor) containing two positively selected sites which may lead to pseudogenization of this gene with possible significant effects on obesity and inflammation development. This work provides the first complete mapping of a genome representing a naturally ‘feast and famine’ evolved phenotype of MetS, serving as a blueprint to guide the search for new targets and new biomarkers for obesity comorbidities.

SREL Reprint #3612

Zhang, Y., G. Fan, X. Liu, K. Skovgaard, M. Sturek, and P. M. H. Heegaard. 2021. The genome of the naturally evolved obesity-prone Ossabaw miniature pig. iScience 24(103081): 1-19.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).