Phylogenetic Analysis of the Swine Leukocyte Antigen-6 Gene Generated from Spleentissue of Korean Native Pig

This study was aimed to search genetic variants, to investigate phylogenetic relationships between pig breeds and to provide basic genetic information of Korean Native Pigs (KNP) using the variations of the Swine Leukocyte Antigen-6 (SLA-6) gene. Cloning of the Swine Leukocyte Antigen (SLA)-6 gene in the MHC non-classical region was performed with spleen tissues of Korean Native Pigs (KNP). Sequencing analysis identified 10 genetic variants positioned at nucleotides 108 (T>C), 251 (G>A), 324 (C>A), 460 (T>C), 556 (T>C), 559 (A>G), 598 (G>A), 665 (T>C), 920 (G>A) and 1,115 (G>A). The identified sequences were submitted into GenBank with accession numbers (DQ992502-10 and DQ976363) according to the specified locations of each SNP. Clustering analysis revealed that KNP was formed to a major group, showing close genetic relationships with SLA-6*0105, SLA-6*01w01 and SLA-6*w02sa01 alleles except DQ992503. KNP showed the low nucleotide diversity with significant differences of the ratio of ti/tv (transition/transversion) compared with other breeds. The identified variants of the SLA-6 gene are useful information to differentiate phylogenetic relationships between KNP and other pig breeds. The unique results of the SLA-6 SNPs of KNP will serve as reference study for further analyses of gene fixations in evolution studies.