Feng Zheng, Wang Wen-Jing, Wang Nan, Chi Shun-Shun, Mu Yu-Lian, Liu Zhi-Guo
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Design and Precise Breeding, School of Animal Science and Technology, Foshan University, Foshan, 528231, Guangdong, China.
State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 27;15(1):31564. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-17179-8.
The Liang Guang Small Spotted (LGSS) pigs, an indigenous Chinese breed, are reported to exhibit desirable muscle attributes such as high intramuscular fat deposition, smaller muscle fiber diameter, and superior water-holding capacity. However, despite these merits, its commercial utility is constrained by suboptimal growth rates and diminished carcass yield. To explore transcriptomic differences potentially associated with distinct muscle phenotypes and identify targets for productivity enhancement, we performed integrated transcriptomic analysis of longissimus dorsi muscles (LDMs) from LGSS and Large White (LW) pigs. We characterized differentially expressed (DE) mRNAs, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and microRNAs (miRNAs), which were primarily enriched in key biological processes including glycolysis and carbon metabolism, structural organization, as well as signaling cascades such as HIF-1, AMPK, and PI3K-Akt. This study uncovers significant transcriptomic distinctions and identifies candidate regulatory molecules in LGSS pigs, offering potential biomarkers and a framework for future functional studies aimed at genetic improvement.
两广小花猪（LGSS）是中国本土猪种，据报道具有理想的肌肉特性，如肌内脂肪沉积量高、肌纤维直径较小以及保水能力强。然而，尽管有这些优点，其商业用途受到生长速度不理想和胴体产量降低的限制。为了探索可能与不同肌肉表型相关的转录组差异，并确定提高生产性能的靶点，我们对LGSS猪和大白猪（LW）的背最长肌（LDM）进行了综合转录组分析。我们对差异表达的（DE）mRNA、长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）、环状RNA（circRNA）和微小RNA（miRNA）进行了表征，这些主要富集在关键生物学过程中，包括糖酵解和碳代谢、结构组织以及信号级联反应，如HIF-1、AMPK和PI3K-Akt。本研究揭示了LGSS猪显著的转录组差异，并鉴定了候选调控分子，为未来旨在遗传改良的功能研究提供了潜在的生物标志物和框架。
