China Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Medicine ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (1): 343-358.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2026.01.031

• Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Sequence Characteristics and Tissue Expression of SCARB2 Gene in Lijiang Pigs

LIANG Bingkun1(), WANG Zhen2, LIU Ziyu3, YAN Dawei1, DONG Xinxing1(), ZHU Jiawei1()   

  1. 1.Faculty of Animal Science and Technology,Yunnan Agricultural University,Kunming 650201,China
    2.Yunnan Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science Research Institute,Diqing 674499,China
    3.Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center of Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Fumin County,Yunnan Province,Kunming 650400,China
  • Revised:2025-08-24 Online:2026-01-05 Published:2025-12-26
  • Contact: DONG Xinxing, ZHU Jiawei E-mail:1260782074@qq.com;dong-xinxing@qq.com;896129199@qq.com

Abstract:

Objective The aim of this study was to amplify the sequence of scavenger receptor class B member 2 (SCARB2) gene in Lijiang pigs and conduct bioinformatics analysis,and detect its expression in various tissues of Lijiang pigs, providing a theoretical basis for exploring the function of this gene in the future. Method Adipose tissues from 6-month-old Lijiang pigs were collected, the mRNA sequence of SCARB2 gene from wild boar (Sus scrofa) in GenBank (accession No.: NM_001244155.1) was be used as a reference sequence to design primers, the CDS region sequence of SCARB2 gene was amplified and sequenced, and bioinformatics analysis software was used to analyze the sequence characteristics and codon preferences of SCARB2 gene, the similarity of SCARB2 gene sequence between multiple species and Lijiang pigs, as well as between domestic and foreign pig breeds and Lijiang pigs, was analyzed,and the phylogenetic tree was constructed. The physicochemical properties and protein structure of SCARB2 protein were predicted. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression of SCARB2 gene in the back fat, heart, liver, lung, kidney, and other tissues of 2, 4, and 6-month-old Lijiang pigs and 6-month-old Duroc pigs. Result The total length of the CDS region sequence of SCARB2 gene in Lijiang pigs was 1 437 bp, encoding 478 amino acids. The homology between Lijiang pigs and Capra hircusOvis ariesBos taurusEquus caballusRattus norvegicusMus musculusHomo sapiens and Gallus gallus was 91.3%, 91.2%, 91.0%, 89.8%, 82.6%, 82.5%, 76.0%, and 66.0%, respectively. Among 6 local pig breeds, except for Bama Miniature pigs, the similarity between Lijiang pigs and local pigs in China was 99.4%, and the similarity with foreign pigs ranged from 99.1% to 99.3%. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that Lijiang pigs were grouped with Sus scrofaBos taurusCapra hircus and Ovis aries, while Gallus gallus form a separate branche. SCARB2 protein was a hydrophilic protein with 2 transmembrane helices, 1 signal peptide cleavage site, 10 N-glycosylation sites, and 39 phosphorylation sites. The secondary and tertiary structures were mainly characterized by random coil. The expression of SCARB2 gene in back fat and liver of 6-month-old Lijiang pigs was extremely significantly higher than that in other tissues (P<0.01). With the age increasing, the expression of SCARB2 gene in abdominal fat, back fat and shoulder fat of Lijiang pigs showed a significant increase, reaching significant or extremely significant levels between 2 and 6 months of age (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The expression in back fat of 6-month-old Lijiang pigs was extremely significantly higher than that of Duroc pigs (P<0.01). Conclusion This study successfully amplified the SCARB2 gene sequence of Lijiang pigs and analyzed its molecular characteristics. SCARB2 gene was expressed in multiple tissues such as subcutaneous fat, liver, and lung, and its expression significantly increased with age in subcutaneous fat tissue. Therefore, SCARB2 could be used as a candidate gene for studying fat deposition traits in Lijiang pigs, and the results could further provide reference for studying the molecular mechanism of pig fat deposition.

Key words: Lijiang pigs; SCARB2 gene; sequence analysis; tissue expression

CLC Number: