Differentially-expressed genes in pig Longissimus muscles with contrasting levels of fat, as identified by combined transcriptomic, reverse transcription PCR, and proteomic analyses.

Intramuscular fat content is important for many meat quality parameters. This work is aimed at identifying functional categories of genes associated with natural variation among individuals in intramuscular fat content to help the design of genetic schemes for high marbling potential. Taking advantage of the global nature of transcriptomic and proteomic technologies, 40 genes were identified as differently expressed between high fat and low fat pig Longissimus muscles at slaughter weight. They are involved in metabolic processes, cell communication, binding, and response to stimulus. Using real-time PCR in muscle biopsies taken earlier in the fattening period, the group with a high intramuscular fat content was also characterized by the down-expression of genes playing a negative role in adipogenesis, such as architectural transcription factor high-motility hook A1, mitogen activated protein-kinase14, and cyclin D1. These results suggest that interindividual variability in intramuscular fat content might arise essentially from differences in early adipogenesis.