Linkage Disequilibrium in the Domesticated Pig

This study investigated the extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in two genomic regions (on chromosomes 4 and 7) in five populations of domesticated pigs. LD was measured with D' and tested for significance with the Fisher exact test. Effects of genetic (linkage) distance, chromosome, population, and their interactions on D' were tested both through a linear model analysis of covariance and by a theoretical nonlinear model. The overall result was that (1) the distance explained most of the variability of D', (2) the effect of chromosome was significant, and (3) the effect of population was significant. The significance of the chromosome effect may have resulted from selection and the significance of the population effect illustrates the effects of population structures and effective population sizes on LD. These results suggest that mapping methods based on LD may be valuable even with only moderately dense marker spacing in pigs.