Differential gene expression in the endometrium on gestation day 12 provides insight into sow prolificacy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Erhualian pigs, one of Chinese Taihu pig breeds, are known to have the largest recorded litter size in the world. A lower prenatal death rate is the major contributing factor to the prolificacy of Taihu pigs. Cross-breeding experiments have demonstrated that Taihu sows exhibit a strong maternal effect and that their large litter sizes are mainly caused by maternal genes. The growth and development of porcine embryos on gestation day (GD) 12 are dependent on histotroph secreted by endometrium. Embryonic loss of Taihu pigs on GD12 is lower than that of Western pigs. Here, endometrial samples were collected from pregnant Erhualian sows (parity 3) and Landrace × Large White (LL) sows (parity 3) on GD12. Digital gene expression profiling (DGE) was used to measure the gene exp

SUBMITTER: Zhang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3610143 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature