High frequency of M307(A) mutation at FUT1 locus, causing resistance to oedema disease, in an autochtonous Polish pig breed, the Zlotnicka Spotted

Oedema disease and post weaning diarrhoea in swine are associated with the colonization of the intestine with toxigenic Escherichia coli bacteria of v arious serotypes. A recent finding by MEIJERINK et al. (1997) showed that t he guanine to adenine mutation at bp 307 (M307(A)) of the alpha(1,2)-fucosy ltransferase gene (FUT1) is a good marker in selection for animals resistan t to infection by fimbriated F18 E. coli strain. The main goal of this pape r was to determine the frequency of the recessive M307(A) allele in four Po lish pig breeds, namely Polish Large White, Polish Landrace, Zlotnicka Whit e and autochtonous Zlotnicka Spotted. In addition, F-1 crosses of Zlotnicka Spotted x Polish Large White were also analysed. Altogether, 84 animals we re genotyped with the use of recently patented polymerase chain reaction-re striction fragment length polymorphism test. In the analysed group, 89% of individuals were genetically predisposed to oedema disease, of which 50% we re heterozygous animals. A high frequency of the M307(A) resistance allele was found among Zlotnicka Spotted and the F-1 crosses, with frequencies of 0.63 and 0.58, respectively. On the other hand, in the Polish Large White, Polish Landrace and Zlotnicka White the frequencies were significantly lowe r: 0.36, 0.22 and 0.21, respectively. This study supports the idea that ind igenous breeds are a valuable source of genes causing resistance to specifi c pathogens.