International Journal of Molecular Zoology 2024, Vol.14, No.1, 22-30 http://animalscipublisher.com/index.php/ijmz 26 As a high-throughput genetic analysis method, GWAS has important application prospects in revealing the correlation between genetic variation and complex traits. Through the step-by-step steps of sample recruitment, genotyping, and data analysis, GWAS provides researchers with a powerful tool to study the genetic basis of complex traits. 2.2 Application cases of GWAS in research on the genetic basis of disease resistance in pigs In recent years, GWAS has been widely used in research on the genetic basis of porcine disease resistance, providing new perspectives and methods for disease prevention and control and breeding and selection. Take swine fever as an example. This is an acute infectious disease caused by swine fever virus, which poses a serious threat to pig production. Through GWAS technology, researchers conducted genotype analysis on large-scale pig herds and discovered some genetic variations related to swine fever resistance (Kumar et al., 2023). These variants may be located in immune-related genes, such as those encoding specific immune cell surface receptors or immune regulatory factors. Through these correlation studies, researchers can initially determine which genes are associated with resistance in pigs. In addition to swine fever, GWAS has also played an important role in the study of other important diseases such as Streptococcus suis arthritis. Streptococcal arthritis of suis is a disease caused by Streptococcus bacteria that often causes arthritis and other serious health problems in pigs. Through GWAS technology, researchers discovered some genes and SNPs related to pig resistance to streptococcal infection (Figure 3). These genes may be closely related to the pig's immune system function or other related biological processes, thereby affecting the pig's infection and resistance to streptococci. GWAS also plays an important role in the study of diseases such as porcine circovirus (McKnite et al., 2014). Porcine circovirus is a virus that causes infectious diarrhea in pigs, seriously affecting the growth and production performance of pigs. Through GWAS analysis, the researchers discovered some genes and SNPs associated with pig resistance to viral infection. These findings provide important theoretical basis for further revealing disease resistance mechanisms and breeding selection. Figure 3 Enlarged Manhattan plots of interest SNPs and related DEGs (Ma et al., 2018) The application cases of GWAS in the study of the genetic basis of porcine disease resistance are rich and diverse, providing researchers with important clues to deeply understand the genetic basis of porcine disease resistance. These research results provide new ideas and strategies for future disease prevention and control and breeding and selection. 2.3 Limitations and challenges of GWAS in identifying genetic genes for disease resistance in pigs Although GWAS has achieved certain results in the study of porcine disease resistance genetic genes, there are still some limitations and challenges. First, since GWAS is a correlational study, the associations found do not represent causal relationships and require further functional studies to verify. Secondly, due to the relatively low genetic diversity of pig populations, GWAS has certain limitations in identifying genes related to disease resistance and may miss some important variations. The pathogenesis of pig diseases is complex and affected by environmental factors, which also increases the difficulty of GWAS research.
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