The prevalence of obesity has tripled over the past four decades, imposing an enormous
burden on people's health. Polygenic (or common) obesity and rare, severe, early-onset …

Background Over the past 20 years, insights from human and mouse genetics have
illuminated the central role of the brain leptin-melanocortin pathway in the control of …

Domestication of wild boar (Sus scrofa) and subsequent selection have resulted in dramatic
phenotypic changes in domestic pigs for a number of traits, including behavior, body …

Traditionally, the process of domestication is assumed to be initiated by humans, involve few
individuals and rely on reproductive isolation between wild and domestic forms. We …

During the past few decades, advances in molecular genetics have led to the identification
of multiple genes or genetic markers associated with genes that affect traits of interest in …

Abstract The melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) was cloned in 1993 by degenerate PCR;
however, its function was unknown. Subsequent studies suggest that the MC4R might be …

Research in the area of the pale, soft and exudative (PSE) pork and poultry meat is reviewed
in this article with an emphasis on genetic, biochemical and metabolic factors contributing to …

Background The recent completion of the swine genome sequencing project and
development of a high density porcine SNP array has made genome-wide association …

Knowledge of melanocortins and their receptors has increased tremendously over the last
few years. The cloning of five melanocortin receptors, and the discovery of two endogenous …

Background Backfat thickness is an important carcass composition trait for pork production
and is commonly included in swine breeding programmes. In this paper, we report the …