Structural characterization of the porcine pyruvate carboxylase (PC) gene

We have characterized the near complete coding sequence of the pig pyruvate carboxylase ( PC) gene in six individuals belonging to the Iberian, Large White and Pietrain breeds. The pig PC nucleotide sequence was 3.517 bp long and encoded one 1.171 amino acid protein displaying a remarkable level of amino acid identity (75-92%) with other vertebrate pyruvate carboxylase sequences. The pig PC mRNA was expressed in several tissues such as liver, backfat, abdominal fat, ovary, uterus and testicle. Sequence aligment allowed to identify one silent (C/T)(837) polymorphism at exon 6 that was typed in a number of Pietrain, Landrace and Large White pigs by using a primer extension-based approach. Allelic frequencies were 0.23 (Pietrain), 0.64 (Landrace) and 0.47 (Large White) for the C allele. Radiation hybrid mapping of the pig PC locus revealed that this gene maps to 2p17, near the SW2623 and the SW256 genetic markers.