%0 Journal Article %T Genetic Screening of Halothane Gene on Selected Philippine Native Pig Herds %A Sherwin Dapiawen Matias %A Maureen Basa Gajeton %A Ester Battad Flores %J Open Journal of Genetics %P 105-113 %@ 2162-4461 %D 2023 %I Scientific Research Publishing %R 10.4236/ojgen.2023.133007 %X The establishment of nucleus herds (NHs) of Native Pigs (NPs) at various R&D stations in the Philippines is currently being undertaken for food security and genetic conservation advocacy. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) is being utilized to identify individuals carrying favorable alleles of genes associated with production traits and screen out genetic defects (GD) for breeding purposes. Porcine Stress Syndrome (PSS) caused by a mutation in Halothane (HAL) gene is a GD frequently found in commercial breeds that when expressed, causes pale, soft, exudative (PSE) meat. PSE is inferior quality meat undesirable in the market causing economic losses to the swine industry. Thus, this study was conducted to screen the HAL gene through mutagenically separated-polymerase chain reaction (MSPCR) in selected NP herds and assessed its repeatability in local breeds. Results showed that out of 577 screened individuals, 543 (94.11%) were normal (NN), 0 (0%) were homozygous mutant (nn) and 34 (5.89%) were heterozygous carriers (Nn). Therefore, the optimized PSS screening protocol using MSPCR is also applicable to local breeds. As such, the availability of genetic tests for PSS could be useful in improving the Philippine NPs breeding selection and inhibiting or eliminating PSS mutant incidence within its nucleus herd. %K Halothane Gene %K Porcine Stress Syndrome %K Native Pig %U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=127615