Ma Fuping, Zou Quan, Zhao Xitong, Liu Huatao, Du Hehe, Xing Kai, Ding Xiangdong, Wang Chuduan
State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding; National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding; Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
Beijing Shunxin Agriculture Co., Ltd., Beijing 101300, China.
Food Chem. 2025 Aug 1;482:143999. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.143999. Epub 2025 Mar 22.
The intramuscular fat (IMF), fatty acid and amino acid compositions of pork are intricately linked to meat quality, flavor profile, and nutritional composition, and have potential implications for human health. Lipid accumulation in pork is initiated by the biosynthesis of fatty acids and regulated by a complex network of genes. In this study, the IMF content and genotyping of large-scale slaughtered Yorkshire pigs were assessed. Transcriptome sequencing of muscles from 17 individuals and fatty and amino acid analyses of muscles from 28 individuals according to IMF content were conducted. Phenotypic analysis showed a high correlation between IMF and most fatty acids, and the composition ratio of different types of fatty acids varied with IMF content. A negative correlation between the n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ratio and increase in IMF content significantly enhanced the levels of essential fatty acids and ameliorated the n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio in pork, thereby elevating its nutritional value to better align with contemporary health standards. A comprehensive analysis that integrated a genome-wide association study, differential gene expression analysis, and weighted gene co-expression network analysis was employed to identify the regulatory mechanisms of lipids. PRLR, SEC11C, ALPK2, CPLX4, APC, and CREB5 were identified as key candidate genes that affect intramuscular lipids and fatty acids. Through molecular and cellular experiments, our results indicated that high APC and CREB5 gene expression significantly promotes lipogenesis in cells, where these genes play an important role in regulatory pathways related to lipid synthesis in animals, which may affect fat deposition and fatty acid composition in pork. Overall, these results lay the foundation for an in-depth analysis of the genetic regulation of pork lipids and nutrition, and also provide molecular regulatory markers for the primary selection of pigs with better meat quality.
猪肉的肌内脂肪（IMF）、脂肪酸和氨基酸组成与肉质、风味特征及营养成分密切相关，对人体健康具有潜在影响。猪肉中的脂质积累由脂肪酸的生物合成启动，并受复杂的基因网络调控。本研究评估了大规模屠宰的约克夏猪的IMF含量和基因分型。对17头猪的肌肉进行转录组测序，并根据IMF含量对28头猪的肌肉进行脂肪酸和氨基酸分析。表型分析表明，IMF与大多数脂肪酸之间存在高度相关性，不同类型脂肪酸的组成比例随IMF含量而变化。n-6/n-3多不饱和脂肪酸（PUFA）比例与IMF含量增加呈负相关，显著提高了必需脂肪酸水平，改善了猪肉中的n-6/n-3 PUFA比例，从而提升了其营养价值，使其更符合当代健康标准。采用全基因组关联研究、差异基因表达分析和加权基因共表达网络分析相结合的综合分析方法来确定脂质的调控机制。PRLR、SEC11C、ALPK2、CPLX4、APC和CREB5被确定为影响肌内脂质和脂肪酸的关键候选基因。通过分子和细胞实验，我们的结果表明，APC和CREB5基因的高表达显著促进细胞中的脂肪生成，这些基因在动物脂质合成相关的调控途径中起重要作用，可能影响猪肉中的脂肪沉积和脂肪酸组成。总体而言，这些结果为深入分析猪肉脂质和营养的遗传调控奠定了基础，也为初选肉质更佳的猪提供了分子调控标记。
