is a strong candidate gene in regulation of pork water-holding capacity.

The UBX domain containing protein 1-like gene () promotes the degradation of myofibrillar proteins during meat maturation, which affects meat water-holding capacity (WHC). This study aims to identify functional mutations in promoter region, which affects the transcription activity and therefore the WHC. Firstly, we confirmed that the expression level was positively associated with WHC. Individuals with high and low WHC ( per group) were selected from 168 Duroc   Large White   Yorkshire (D   L   Y) crossbred pigs. The promoter region was comparatively sequenced using DNA pools from these two groups, and a mutation ca. 379T   G was revealed that had reverse allele distribution. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was then genotyped in the abovementioned population. TT genotype individuals exhibited higher mRNA level and higher WHC compared with GG genotype ones. Further luciferase assay confirmed that TT genotype promoter had higher activity. Moreover, the degradation of cytoskeletal framework proteins of muscle cells like , , , and was higher in TT genotype individuals than GG ones. In conclusion, we identified a SNP in the gene promoter that contributes to WHC improvement and pork quality. And is a strong candidate gene in regulation of pork WHC.