Long-term, multidomain analyses to identify the breed and allelic effects in MSTN-edited pigs to overcome lameness and sustainably improve nutritional meat production

Fan, Ziyao; Liu, Zhiguo; Xu, Kui; Wu, Tianwen; Ruan, Jinxue; Zheng, Xinmin; Bao, Shideng; Mu, Yulian; Sonstegard, Tad; Li, Kui

Beef and mutton production has been aided by breeding to integrate allelic diversity for myostatin (MSTN), but a lack of diversity in the MSTN germplasm has limited similar advances in pig farming. Moreover, insurmountable challenges with congenital lameness and a dearth of data about the impacts of feed conversion, reproduction, and meat quality in MSTN-edited pigs have also currently blocked progress. Here, in a largest-to-date evaluation of multiple MSTN-edited pig populations, we demonstrated a practical alternative edit-site-based solution that overcomes the major production obstacle of hindlimb weakness. We also provide long-term and multidomain datasets for multiple breeds that illustrate how MSTN-editing can sustainably increase the yields of breed-specific lean meat and the levels of desirable lipids without deleteriously affecting feed-conversion rates or litter size. Apart from establishing a new benchmark for the data scale and quality of genome-edited animal production, our study specifically illustrates how gene-editing site selection profoundly impacts the phenotypic outcomes in diverse genetic backgrounds. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s11427-020-1927-9 and is accessible for authorized users.