10.8. P42—Genomic Investigation on Casertana and Commercial Italian Pig Breeds

The Casertana pig (C) is a breed native to Southern Italy, prized for its exceptionally fine meat and high nutritional value. Preserving and understanding its genetic makeup is crucial for both production and reproductive purposes. In this preliminary study, we conducted genetic screening on 33 Casertana pigs and 31 hybrid pigs, including Duroc- Large White (DLW), Pietrain-Large White (PLW), Pietrain, and Duroc-Landrace breeds. We employed two genomic approaches: RAPD-PCR (Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA) and mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) analysis. RAPD-PCR was performed using 14 different primer pairs to generate unique fingerprints for each breed. While we obtained a high number of unique and repeatable bands, no specific differences were identified between Casertana pigs and the hybrid pigs. mtDNA, known for its high interspecific variability and suitability in determining population origins, was analyzed using four primer pairs: MT1-2-3 (Gvozdanovic et al., 2018; Karabasanavar et al., 2014) and DISPI. The amplified products yielded four different amplicons (487, 712, 734, and 700 bp) without intra-breed differences. MT3 showed two bands, a common 712 bp band across all samples and a 500 bp band specific to DLWhybrids and some Casertana samples. Additionally, for some Casertana samples, the 712 bp band split into two separate bands. These preliminary results suggest that mtDNA, especially when coupled with sequencing analyses, could be valuable in determining the specific characteristics of the investigated breeds.