Construction and preliminary characterization analysis of Wuzhishan miniature pig bacterial artificial chromosome library with approximately 8-fold genome equivalent coverage.

Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries have been invaluable tools for the genome-wide genetic dissection of complex organisms. Here, we report the construction and characterization of a high-redundancy BAC library from a very valuable pig breed in China, Wuzhishan miniature pig (Sus scrofa), using its blood cells and fibroblasts, respectively. The library contains approximately 153,600 clones ordered in 40 superpools of 10 × 384-deep well microplates. The average insert size of BAC clones was estimated to be 152.3 kb, representing approximately 7.68 genome equivalents of the porcine haploid genome and a 99.93% statistical probability of obtaining at least one clone containing a unique DNA sequence in the library. 19 pairs of microsatellite marker primers covering porcine chromosomes were used for screening the BAC library, which showed that each of these markers was positive in the library; the positive clone number was 2 to 9, and the average number was 7.89, which was consistent with 7.68-fold coverage of the porcine genome. And there were no significant differences of genomic BAC library from blood cells and fibroblast cells. Therefore, we identified 19 microsatellite markers that could potentially be used as genetic markers. As a result, this BAC library will serve as a valuable resource for gene identification, physical mapping, and comparative genomics and large-scale genome sequencing in the porcine.