Abstract
Pig breeding is aimed at improving lean meat production ability as well as meat quality, and muscle fibre characteristics may be important for enhancing these traits. Therefore, new molecular markers have been demanded for selecting lean meat production ability and meat quality in live animals. Myogenin belongs to the MyoD gene family, and is a candidate gene responsible for muscle fibre characteristics. We identified a new single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) site in the 5' upstream region of the myogenin gene (nucleotides C and T). A total of 252 pigs of three breeds were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism using BspCNI. Additionally, they were genotyped for the previously detected MspI site in the 3'-flanking region (alleles A and B). The CCBB diplotype had the highest frequency over breeds, followed by TCBB and CCAB. The other diplotypes were not found in studied pigs. Association analysis performed for the markers found that the TCBB diplotype has desirable effects on the total number of fibres (p < 0.002), fibre cross-sectional area (p < 0.06), and loin eye area (p < 0.001) than the other diplotypes. Moreover, the diplotype had the highest muscle pH value (p < 0.07) and all meat quality traits were near the upper limit of the normal range as a reddish pink, firm and non-exudative (RFN) pork. Therefore, we suggest that selection for the myogenin diplotypes could improve total muscle fibre number, size and lean meat production ability with good meat quality.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.