Swine Group Committee Report 6/8/00

Minutes 6-8-00 SGUP committee
Indianapolis Indiana

The meeting convened at 2:00 pm. Attending:

Harvey Blackburn gave an overview of the history of the National Animal Germplasm Preservation and utilization (NAGP) efforts over the past 10 years and the current status of the National Seed Storage Laboratory at Ft Collins Colorado and it's satellite locations. The report from the October 1999 Discover conference was also reviewed.

Harvey then gave an update on the GRIN database. Points of discussion related to the database were:

What needs to be in the database? Initial efforts by the GRIN personnel were to have a uniform set of information for all species. A prototype listing was distributed. A consensus was that the list was too general and too long. It would discourage people from completing the survey. A concise set of population descriptors is needed that allows the committee to access the attributes and risks of a population. A second set of descriptors is needed for individual animals contributing to the germplasm reserve. The lists should allow some flexibility but needs to allow estimation of effective population size, characteristics of the population and current annual rate of inbreeding.

Who needs to be surveyed? Six types of populations were identified; the major breeds, the minor breeds, corporate lines, research lines, laboratory lines such as the mini pigs and feral populations. Major Breeds can be contacted through the National Swine Registry (NSR). Minor breeds can be contacted through the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC). Research lines can be contacted through the NC-220 research committee. Individual companies will need to be contacted to cover the corporate lines. Effort should be made to identify the geneticist in each company as the contact point. Mike Tumbleson at the University of Illinois may be able to provide a list of laboratory populations. Feral populations will present a challenge.

To achieve a high response rate to the survey, there needs to be some educational materials of what the goals are, there needs to be personal contact when possible and the survey needs to be kept as brief as possible.

As part of the survey effort, we need to develop an inventory of what frozen semen is in storage at AI studs and other locations.

Also discussed was the issue of who has access to the information in the database. Harvey discussed a 2-tiered approach where some information could be held in confidence to the committee for a period of time. This might be appropriate for some populations. In general, the committee expressed a feeling of making as much information public as possible. Confidential information should only be created if the owner of a specific population demands it and then only for a specific time period, after which it would become public.

The discussion then turned to identifying what populations to preserve. Many of the issues discussed were previously reported in the Discover meeting. It was the consensus that two efforts should be made. Snapshots should be taken of current populations not at risk to preserve genetic variation. Snapshots should be taken approximately every 3 to 4 generations (about 10 years). Populations determined to be at risk should be sampled to preserve gene combinations.

The question of what is a population was raised. Some attributes that help define an independent population are:

• 5 years closed population that is documented
• 90% of the liters produced in the last 2 years have a sire born in the population, or
• 90% of the dams were born in the closed population.
• Must be able to assess Ne or annual rate of inbreeding

The question of how many individuals to sample was next discussed. The FAO number of about 25,000 semen doses was derived assuming you wanted to do 3 generations of backcrossing in an attempt to reconstruct a breed. The general view was that the FAO numbers were large due to conservative estimates of reproductive rates. This was identified as an area that needed further study.

Related to how many samples to store is the question of how samples are accessed from the reserve. Harvey Blackburn presented the approach the plant administrators have used of 3 pools within the reserve: one for regeneration of critical populations, one for sampling of alleles for introgression in to breeding populations and one for research. The committee endorsed this approach to sample management. Total sample numbers stored need to allow for all three uses.

The committee reconfirmed the statement from the Discover conference that initial efforts should be made to preserve frozen semen but cryobiologist should be consulted to determine the potential for other technologies to be employed. Tissue for DNA analysis should also be stored on each individual sampled. In making final decisions, the cost: benefit ratio of alternative storage methods needs to be assessed.

Next, what populations should we consider for immediate sampling. From a snapshot approach, it was suggested that we start with the largest 4 breeds (Yorkshire, Landrace, Hampshire and Duroc) and have the ALBC to suggest a minor breed. From the at risk category, it was suggested that as part of the survey respondents be asked to identify any lines they anticipate closing. The status of the Chinese pig research lines was noted for inquiry.

There was some discussion of rules for acquisition and accession of the reserve. There was not much progress and this is an area needing future attention. There was a view that rules should be as uniform as possible among all animal species. We should also learn for the plant experience.

Additional membership on the committee: We need to identify one or two representatives from the commercial sector of the industry. We also need a representative of the AI Studs.

Future Meetings: The committee felt that 2 meetings per year might be beneficial for the next few years. The National Swine Improvement Federation (NSIF) meeting in December was identified as a likely 2nd meeting time. The Chair will attempt to set up a meeting then.

Action plans:

1. Rodger Johnson and Fields Gunsett will work to develop trait lists to describe populations and individuals in the database. The list should be as short as possible while still allowing the committee to assess the risk of the population and it's genetic attributes.
2. Terry Stewart, Rodney Goodwin and Darrell Anderson will develop a list of contact addresses for the Populations to be surveyed. The NPPC vendor list at the World Pork Expo was identified as a good source.
3. Bill Lamberson will work to identify methods of identifying individuals to sample within a population to capture the full range of genetic variation.
4. Need to recruit someone to revisit the FAO numbers to determine how many semen samples (or other tissues) need to be stored per population.
5. The survey should be initiated. Also determine current semen stores. An informative cover letter/educational material needs to be drafted.
6. Efforts should be made to begin sampling 4 major breeds and 2 minor breeds to construct the snapshots of genetic variation.
7. Terry Stewart will work to complete membership on the committee and identify future meeting dates. (PLEASE HOLD December 7 & 8 as tentative meeting dates in Nashville Tennessee)

Meeting adjourned at 5:45PM

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