PREGROW - Single nuclei profiling of the pituitary gland and its downstream genetic effects contributing to prepubescent growth in pigs

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Julia Metzger
• Subject Area: Animal Breeding, Animal Nutrition, Animal Husbandry ; General Genetics and Functional Genome Biology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 535089058

PREGROW-project aims to provide a single nuclei transcriptional profile of the pituitary and its downstream targets in miniature-sized and larger-sized pigs as a model for prepubescent growth control. This approach is meant to meet a big challenge we encounter in research work on growth: Body size is a whole-organism phenotype with many different tissues involved, and the variant effects are expected to be complex. For this reason, PREGROW aims at studying the genetic landscape of growth-axis-related tissues in the pig, providing a genetic resource for deciphering mechanisms of gene interplay, and underlying variant effects. The objective is to perform a functional trait-cell type enrichment for previously identified genome-wide associated growth and height loci obtained from GWAS by assigning them to cell types identified in gene expression data on single nuclei level. The project aims at identifying those genes, which are differential in large versus miniature pigs, and can thereby be considered as important fine-regulators of prepubescent growth in pigs, in addition to the known hormonal axis regulation by growth hormone/IGF.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants