The porcine corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) gene is a functional–positional candidate
for quantitative tract loci on porcine chromosome 4 with major effects on growth and
carcass composition. In addition, the central role of CRH in the neuroendocrine response to
stress implicates the CRH gene as a functional candidate for meat quality. Association of a
single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter region of the porcine CRH gene
(g.233C>T) with several growth, carcass and meat quality traits was examined using more
than 2000 individuals from four commercial lines: German Landrace (LR), Pietrain (Pi),
German Large White · German Landrace (F1) and the German commercial fattening pig
cross of Pietrain · F1 (PiF1). Significant association of the CRH SNP was found with feed
conversion ratio in the PiF1 line, with carcass length in the LR line and with lean content in
the F1, LR and Pi lines. Moreover, significant association with meat colour was found in the
Pi and LR lines; however, the effects were in opposite directions. The presented results
indicate that sequence variation in the porcine CRH gene has no major effect on growth and
carcass composition in commercial pig lines, although it may significantly contribute to
variation in meat quality. The g.233C>T SNP may be in incomplete linkage disequilibrium
with causal mutations and/or exhibit effects in the context of DNA variation at other
interacting loci.