{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T10:06:49Z","timestamp":1775815609229,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,14]],"date-time":"2019-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1568419200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005632","name":"National Centre for Research and Development","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["BIOSTRATEG2\/297267\/14\/NCBIR\/2016"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BIOSTRATEG2\/297267\/14\/NCBIR\/2016"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005632","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Genes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Over the decades, pig breeding objectives have focused on improving the meat content in the carcass without taking into consideration the more effective fattening indicators that affect feed conversion. At present, pig growth traits associated particularly with animal feeding have become crucial due to their economic significance. This is especially evident in countries where pigs are maintained on large farms. The present study indicates that pituitary differentially expressed genes (DEGs) are activated in response to variable feed conversion (FC) in pigs. The experiment included two native Polish breeds: Pu\u0142awska and Z\u0142otnicka White (ZW). The whole pituitary transcriptome was sequenced using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The RNA-seq method identified over 500 and 300 DEGs in the pituitaries of the ZW and the Pu\u0142awska pig populations, respectively, that were associated with hormonal regulation, notch signaling, and Wnt pathways. Lower FC in the ZW pigs favoured increased fat content in the body and significantly higher prolactin expression. The obtained results indicate that low FC values in pigs are related to slower growth or increased fat content, which suggests various pituitary responses. Therefore, the identified candidate genes were not directly associated with feed conversion values but with other factors. However, the present study delivers new insights into pituitary regulation in pigs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/genes10090712","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,16]],"date-time":"2019-09-16T03:17:57Z","timestamp":1568603877000},"page":"712","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["The Pituitary Transcriptional Response Related to Feed Conversion in Pigs"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4368-9624","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Katarzyna","family":"Pi\u00f3rkowska","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, 31-047 Cracow, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5690-3634","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kacper","family":"\u017bukowski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cattle Breeding, National Research Institute of Animal Production, 31-047 Cracow, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8221-3461","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miros\u0142aw","family":"Tyra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pig Breeding, National Research Institute of Animal Production, 31-047 Cracow, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2119-871X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Magdalena","family":"Szyndler-N\u0119dza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pig Breeding, National Research Institute of Animal Production, 31-047 Cracow, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Karolina","family":"Szulc","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Breeding and Product Quality Assessment, Pozna\u0144 University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ewa","family":"Skrzypczak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Breeding and Product Quality Assessment, Pozna\u0144 University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8555-0495","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Katarzyna","family":"Ropka-Molik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, 31-047 Cracow, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"305","article-title":"Possibility of improvement of lean meat content of ham and loin in pigs by selection for growth and feed conversion rate","volume":"26","author":"Tyra","year":"2008","journal-title":"Anim. 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