College of Animal Science, Anhui Science and Technology University, Chuzhou 233100, China.
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Regulation and Health, Chuzhou 233100, China.
Genes (Basel). 2023 Jul 28;14(8):1548. doi: 10.3390/genes14081548.
The Huai pig is a well-known indigenous pig breed in China. The main advantages of Huai pigs over Western commercial pig breeds include a high intramuscular fat (IMF) content and good meat quality. There are significant differences in the meat quality traits of the same muscle part or different muscle parts of the same variety. To investigate the potential genetic mechanism underlying the meat quality differences in different pig breeds or muscle groups, longissimus dorsi (LD), psoas major (PM), and biceps femoris (BF) muscle tissues were collected from two pig breeds (Huai and Duroc). There were significant differences in meat quality traits and amino acid content. We assessed the muscle transcriptomic profiles using high-throughput RNA sequencing. The IMF content in the LD, PM, and BF muscles of Huai pigs was significantly higher than that in Duroc pigs ( < 0.05). Similarly, the content of flavor amino acids in the three muscle groups was significantly higher in Huai pigs than that in Duroc pigs ( < 0.05). We identified 175, 110, and 86 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the LD, PM, and BF muscles of the Huai and Duroc pigs, respectively. The DEGs of the different pig breeds and muscle regions were significantly enriched in the biological processes and signaling pathways related to muscle fiber type, IMF deposition, lipid metabolism, PPAR signaling, cAMP signaling, amino acid metabolism, and ECM-receptor interaction. Our findings might help improve pork yield by using the obtained DEGs for marker-assisted selection and providing a theoretical reference for evaluating and improving pork quality.
淮猪是中国著名的本土猪种。与西方商业猪种相比，淮猪的主要优势包括较高的肌内脂肪（IMF）含量和良好的肉质。同一肌肉部位或不同品种的不同肌肉部位的肉质特性存在显著差异。为了研究不同猪种或肌肉群肉质差异的潜在遗传机制，从两个猪种（淮猪和杜洛克猪）中采集背最长肌（LD）、腰大肌（PM）和股二头肌（BF）肌肉组织。肉质特性和氨基酸含量存在显著差异。我们使用高通量 RNA 测序评估了肌肉转录组谱。淮猪 LD、PM 和 BF 肌肉中的 IMF 含量明显高于杜洛克猪（<0.05）。同样，三组肌肉中风味氨基酸的含量在淮猪中也明显高于杜洛克猪（<0.05）。我们分别在淮猪和杜洛克猪的 LD、PM 和 BF 肌肉中鉴定出 175、110 和 86 个差异表达基因（DEGs）。不同猪种和肌肉区域的 DEGs 在与肌纤维类型、IMF 沉积、脂质代谢、PPAR 信号、cAMP 信号、氨基酸代谢和 ECM-受体相互作用相关的生物学过程和信号通路中显著富集。我们的研究结果可能有助于通过使用获得的 DEGs 进行标记辅助选择来提高猪肉产量，并为评估和改善猪肉质量提供理论参考。
