Integrating genome-wide association study with multi-tissue transcriptome analysis provides insights into the genetic architecture of teat traits in pigs

Porcine teat numbers are crucial indicators of the reproductive performance of sows in the pig industry.During lactation periods,sows with fewer teats may lead to inadequate colostrum intake in piglets,which affects piglet weight gain and mortality(Tummaruk,2013).In pig breeding,high-intensity artificial selection on litter traits potentially gives rise to the functional weakening of teat traits due to the pleiotropic effects of genes affecting both traits(Chen et al.,2022).In recent years,several single-marker genome-wide associa-tion studies(GWASs)have been conducted to explore the genetic ar-chitecture of teat traits in pigs(Zhuang et al.,2020;Li et al.,2021).