Project description:To identify transcriptional markers for beef traits related to meat tenderness and moisture, we measured the transcriptome of the Longissimus dorsi skeletal muscle in 10 Korean native cattle (KNC). We analyzed the correlation between the beef transcriptome and measurements of four different beef traits, shear force (SF), water holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss (CL), and loin eye area (LEA). We obtained non-overlapping and unique panels of genes showing strong correlations (|r| > 0.8) with SF, WHC, CL, and LEA, respectively. Functional studies of these genes indicated that SF was mainly related to energy metabolism, and LEA to rRNA processing. Interestingly, our data suggested that WHC is influenced by protein metabolism. Overall, the skeletal muscle transcriptome pointed to the importance of energy and protein metabolism in determining meat quality after the aging process. The panels of transcripts for beef traits may be useful for predicting meat tenderness and moisture. Experiment Overall Design: Gene expression profiles were correlated with beef traits measured at the same cattle.
Project description:The goal was to identify beef marbling related genes. Comparisons of skeletal muscle of well-marbled beef (HER, H-F) vs. lean beef (LIM). H-F vs. LIM -Dye-swap experiment
Project description:It has been proved that intramuscular fat (IMF) or marbling in beef improves palatability. Recently, consumers have considered not only the degree of marbling but also the size and distribution of marbling flecks for their health and appetizing looking of beef. Computer image analysis (CIA) systems have been developed to assess various characteristics of marbling particles (MPs) such as the number, size, and distribution (fineness or coarseness) objectively. Some CIA indexes about MPs indicating how MPs are distributed evenly had significant positive relationship with price which represents consumers’ interest. RNA-seq research about formation of fine MPs in the longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle tissue of cattle have not yet been tried in transcriptome level. This study was conducted to reveal the DEGs between groups which have high or low number of fine MPs in the Longissimus thoracis muscle of Korean beef cattle and to understand molecular events associated with marbling fineness.
