Abstract
The two breeds, Mashen (MS; a northern China breed) and Large White (LW; a western lean breed) pigs, show important phenotypic differences in growth, adaptability, intramuscular fat (IMF) content, and energy metabolism since early developmental stage. The main aim of this study was the evaluation of longissimus thoracis muscle transcriptome profile of both genetic types to identify genes, pathways responsible for their differentiated phenotype. Longissimus thoracis of MS and LW pigs were sampled at 0 day (early stage), 90 days (middle stage), and 180 days (later stage) after birth. A total of 3,487 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified at the three time points. Sample clustering analysis revealed the slower growth rate of MS than LW pigs. Gene expression pattern analysis revealed that multicellular organism growth genes (GHSR, EZR, FOXS1, DRD2, SH3PXD2B, CSF1, and TSHR) were involved in the fast growth rate of LW pigs at early stage. Furthermore, DEGs (ACACA, ACSF3, OXSM, CBR4, and HSD17B8) functionally related to fatty acid synthesis revealed that IMF accumulation occurred around 90 and up to 180 days. These DEGs provided valuable resource to study the phenotypic difference in longissimus thoracis muscle between MS and LW pigs.
Highlights
The pig (Sus scrofa) served as an important animal for agricultural production, which can provide meat for human consumption
Cluster 5 contained 522 genes, which showed an up-regulated pattern at 180 days. These results suggested that longissimus thoracis muscle development between MS and Large White (LW) pigs had a variable effect on gene expression
RNA-Seq technique was employed to explore the transcriptome difference of longissimus thoracis muscle in MS and LW pigs
Summary
The pig (Sus scrofa) served as an important animal for agricultural production, which can provide meat for human consumption. Western pigs have experienced intensive selection, which lead to fast growth rate. The meat quality of western pigs is deteriorative due to long-term selection. As a typical lean-type European breed, the Large White (LW) pig is widely used for commercial production because of its high growth rate and lean meat percentage. Compared with western pig breeds, Chinese indigenous pig breeds have higher intramuscular fat (IMF), increased tenderness, and better meat quality (Wu et al, 2013; Shen et al, 2014; Liu et al, 2015). Because of the deterioration of meat quality in western pigs, there has been an increasing interest in improving meat quality though use of Chinese indigenous pig breeds. Breed-specific differences in genetics between western pig breeds and Chinese indigenous pig breeds are not fully understood
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