Transcriptomics Analysis on Excellent Meat Quality Traits of Skeletal Muscles of the Chinese Indigenous Min Pig Compared with the Large White Breed.

Yingzi Liu,Xinmiao He,Di Liu,Yang Liu,Xiuqin Yang,Liang Wang,Xiaoyan Jing

doi:10.3390/ijms19010021

Abstract

The Min pig (Sus scrofa) is a well-known indigenous breed in China. One of its main advantages over European breeds is its high meat quality. Additionally, different cuts of pig also show some different traits of meat quality. To explore the underlying mechanism responsible for the differences of meat quality between different breeds or cuts, the longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) and the biceps femoris muscle (BF) from Min and Large White pigs were investigated using transcriptome analysis. The gene expression profiling identified 1371 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between LM muscles from Min and Large White pigs, and 114 DEGs between LM and BF muscles from the same Min pigs. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment of biological functions and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that the gene products were mainly involved in the IRS1/Akt/FoxO1 signaling pathway, adenosine 5′-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) cascade effects, lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism pathway. Such pathways contributed to fatty acid metabolism, intramuscular fat deposition, and skeletal muscle growth in Min pig. These results give an insight into the mechanisms underlying the formation of skeletal muscle and provide candidate genes for improving meat quality. It will contribute to improving meat quality of pigs through molecular breeding.

Highlights

Pigs are an important source of meat production worldwide [1]
There are 118 indigenous pig breeds in China according to the Domestic Animal Diversity in the World index [4]
Most of the metabolic effects of insulin are mediated by the signaling pathway involving the phosphorylation of the insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1), and the activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (Akt), and forkhead box O1 (FoxO1) [16,23]

Summary

Introduction

Pigs are an important source of meat production worldwide [1]. To meet the increasing quality demands, it is necessary to improve the quality of pork. Pork quality is influenced by many factors, including breed, nutrition, production system and post-slaughter handling [2]. Among these factors, breed is the most significant. In China, there are more pig breeds than in any other country all over the world [3]. There are 118 indigenous pig breeds in China according to the Domestic Animal Diversity in the World index [4]. Some studies suggest that the process of such intensive selection have led to a deterioration in meat quality [5,6,7]

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Conclusion