• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.1193-1195
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• 2000

The polymorphisms of six microsatellites were investigated in four indigenous pig breeds (Erhualian, Tongcheng, Qingping and Wannanhua) and three introduced breeds (Large White, Landrace and Duroc) in China, and the genetic variations within and among populations were analyzed. The results showed that genetic diversity of Chinese indigenous pig breeds is higher than that of the introduced pig breeds. The clustering of seven breeds is consistent with their geographical distribution approximately. Estimated time of breed divergence ranged from 653 to 1856 years.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.836-847
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• 2020

Objective: We investigated the temporal expression profiles of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and mRNA in the peripheral blood of pigs during development and identified the lncRNAs that are related to the blood-based immune system. Methods: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from the pigs at 0, 7, 28, and 180 days and 2 years of age. RNA sequencing was performed to survey the lncRNA and mRNA transcriptomes in the samples. Short time-series expression miner (STEM) was used to show temporal expression patterns in the mRNAs and lncRNAs. Gene ontology and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes analyses were performed to assess the genes' biological relevance. To predict the functions of the identified lncRNAs, we extracted mRNAs that were nearby loci and highly correlated with the lncRNAs. Results: In total of 5,946 lncRNA and 12,354 mRNA transcripts were identified among the samples. STEM showed that most lncRNAs and mRNAs had similar temporal expression patterns during development, indicating the expressional correlation and functional relatedness between them. The five stages were divided into two classes: the suckling period and the late developmental stage. Most genes were expressed at low level during the suckling period, but at higher level during the late stages. Expression of several T-cell-related genes increased continuously during the suckling period, indicating that these genes are crucial for establishing the adaptive immune system in piglets at this stage. Notably, lncRNA TCONS-00086451 may promote blood-based immune system development by upregulating nuclear factor of activated T-cells cytoplasmic 2 expression. Conclusion: This study provides a catalog of porcine peripheral blood-related lncRNAs and mRNAs and reveals the characteristics and temporal expression profiles of these lncRNAs and mRNAs during peripheral blood development from the newborn to adult stages in pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.467-475
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• 2015

Improvement for carcass traits related to beef quality is the key concern in beef production. Recent reports found that epigenetics mediates the interaction of individuals with environment and nutrition. The present study was designed to analyze the genetic effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in seven epigenetic-related genes (DNMT1, DNMT3a, DNMT3b, DNMT3L, Ago1, Ago2, and HDAC5) and two meat quality candidate genes (CAPN1 and PRKAG3) on fourteen carcass traits related to beef quality in a Snow Dragon beef population, and also to identify SNPs in a total of fourteen cattle populations. Sixteen SNPs were identified and genotyped in 383 individuals sampled from the 14 cattle breeds, which included 147 samples from the Snow Dragon beef population. Data analysis showed significant association of 8 SNPs within 4 genes related to carcass and/or meat quality traits in the beef populations. SNP1 (13154420A>G) in exon 17 of DNMT1 was significantly associated with rib-eye width and lean meat color score (p<0.05). A novel SNP (SNP4, 76198537A>G) of DNMT3a was significantly associated with six beef quality traits. Those individuals with the wild-type genotype AA of DNMT3a showed an increase in carcass weight, chilled carcass weight, flank thicknesses, chuck short rib thickness, chuck short rib score and in chuck flap weight in contrast to the GG genotype. Five out of six SNPs in DNMT3b gene were significantly associated with three beef quality traits. SNP15 (45219258C>T) in CAPN1 was significantly associated with chuck short rib thickness and lean meat color score (p<0.05). The significant effect of SNP15 on lean meat color score individually and in combination with each of other 14 SNPs qualify this SNP to be used as potential marker for improving the trait. In addition, the frequencies of most wild-type alleles were higher than those of the mutant alleles in the native and foreign cattle breeds. Seven SNPs were identified in the epigenetic-related genes. The SNP15 in CAPN1 could be used as a powerful genetic marker in selection programs for beef quality improvement in the Snow Dragon Beef population.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1193-1201
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• 2021

Objective: According to market demand, meat duck breeding mainly includes 2 breeding directions: lean Pekin duck (LPD) and fat Pekin duck (FPD). The aim of the present study was to compare carcass and meat quality traits between 2 strains, and to provide basic data for guidelines of processing and meat quality improvement. Methods: A total of 62 female Pekin ducks (32 LPDs and 30 FPDs) were slaughtered at the age of 42 days. The live body weight and carcass traits were measured and calculated. Physical properties of breast muscle were determined by texture analyzer and muscle fibers were measured by paraffin sections. The content of inosine monophosphate (IMP), intramuscular fat (IMF) and fatty acids composition were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography, Soxhlet extraction method and automated gas chromatography respectively. Results: The results showed that the bodyweight of LPDs was higher than that of FPDs. FPDs were significantly higher than LPDs in subcutaneous fat thickness, subcutaneous fat weight, subcutaneous fat percentage, abdominal fat percentage and abdominal fat shear force (p<0.01). LPDs were significantly higher than FPDs in breast muscle thickness, breast muscle weight, breast muscle rate and breast muscle shear force (p<0.01). The muscle fiber average area and fiber diameter of LPDs were significantly higher than those of FPDs (p<0.01). The muscle fiber density of LPDs was significantly lower than that of FPDs (p<0.01). The IMF of LPDs in the breast muscle was significantly higher than that in the FPDs (p<0.01). There was no significant difference between the 2 strains in IMP content (p>0.05). The polyunsaturated fatty acid content of LPDs was significantly higher than that of FPDs (p<0.01), and FPDs had higher saturated fatty acid and monounsaturated fatty acid levels (p<0.05). Conclusion: Long-term breeding work resulted in vast differences between the two strains Pekin ducks. This study provides a reference for differences between LPD and FPD that manifest as a result of long-term selection.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.855-862
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• 2010

Among the known interferon-induced antiviral mechanisms, the Mx pathway is one of the most powerful pathways. The Mx protein has direct antiviral activity and inhibits a wide range of viruses by blocking an early stage of the viral replication cycle. Cloning, characterization, and expression of Mx in vivo and in vitro have been conducted. The chicken Mx gene spans 21 kb and is made up of 14 exons and 13 introns, of which the promoter region was analyzed. The real-time PCR results showed that Mx expression was increased in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) after 12- and 24-h induction with polyI: C. Induction of Mx expression by poly I: C in vivo revealed tissue-specific patterns among the chicken tissues tested. A trace expression of Mx was detected in healthy chicken liver tissues from adult chickens without inducement; the expression levels in the liver, heart, and gizzard were higher than in the muscle and kidney. This is the first report to demonstrate the expression of a glutathione-S-transferase-tagged-Mx fusion protein of 75 KDa, as well as the biological activity tested by SDS-PAGE and western blotting.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.899-907
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• 2023

Objective: The better understanding of laying pattern of birds is crucial for developing breed-specific proper breeding scheme and management. Methods: Daily egg production until 50 wk of age of six chicken breeds including one layer (White Leghorn, WL), three dual-purpose (Rhode Island Red, RIR; Columbian Plymouth Rock, CR; and Barred Plymouth Rock, BR), one synthetic dwarf (DY), and one indigenous (Beijing-You Chicken, BYC) were used to characterize their clutch traits and egg production. The age at first egg, egg number, average and maximum clutch length, pause length, and number of clutches and pauses were calculated accordingly. Results: The egg number and average clutch length in WL, RIR, CR, and BR were higher than those in DY and BYC (p<0.01). The numbers of clutches and pauses, and pause length in WL, RIR, CR, and BR were lower than those in DY and BYC (p<0.01). The coefficient variations of clutch length in WL, RIR, CR, and BR (57.66%, 66.49%, 64.22%, and 55.35%, respectively) were higher than DY (41.84%) and BYC (36.29%), while the coefficient variations of egg number in WL, RIR, CR, and BR (9.10%, 9.97%, 10.82%, and 9.92%) were lower than DY (15.84%) and BYC (16.85%). The clutch length was positively correlated with egg number (r = 0.51 to 0.66; p<0.01), but not correlated with age at first egg in all breeds. Conclusion: The six breeds showed significant different clutch and egg production traits. Due to the selection history, the high and median productive layer breeds had higher clutch length than those of the less productive indigenous BYC. The clutch length is a proper selection criterion for further progress in egg production. The age at first egg, which is independent of clutch traits, is especially encouraged to be improved by selection in the BYC breed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.1066-1070
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• 2003

In order to identify differentially expressed mRNAs (which represent possible candidates for significant phenotypic variances of muscle growth, meat quality between introduced European and Chinese indigenous pigs) in the longissimus dorsi muscle tissue between adult Duroc and Erhualian pigs, mRNA differential display was performed. Five 3' anchor primers in combination with 20 different 5' arbitrary primers (100 primer sets) were used and nearly 5,000 cDNA bands were examined, among which 10 differential display cDNAs were obtained, cloned and sequenced. Six of the 10 cDNAs showed similarity to identified genes from GenBank and the other 4 had no matches in GenBank. Differential expression was tested by Northern blot hybridization and could be confirmed for 2 cDNAs. The method used in this study provides a useful molecular tool to investigate genetic variation that occurs at the transcriptional level between different breeds.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.482-488
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• 2021

Objective: This study was conducted to estimate effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) on the estimated breeding value of Hungarian Grey (HG) bulls and to find markers associated with horn colour. Methods: Genotypes 136 HG animals were determined on Geneseek high-density Bovine SNP 150K BeadChip. A multi-locus mixed-model was applied for statistical analyses. Results: Six SNPs were identified to be associated (-log10P>10) with green and white horn. These loci are located on chromosome 1, 3, 9, 18, and 25. Seven loci (on chromosome 1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 28) showed considerable association (-log10P>10) with the estimated breeding value. Conclusion: Analysis provides markers for further research of horn colour and supplies markers to achieve more effective selection work regarding estimated breeding value of HG.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.471-477
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• 2008

The porcine PRKAG3 (RN) gene encodes the regulatory gamma subunit of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which is a good candidate gene affecting meat quality. In this study, the effects of two missense mutations A595G (Ile199Val) and G154A (Gly52Ser) in porcine PRKAG3 gene on meat quality traits were studied in M. Longissimus dorsi (LD), M. Semispinalis capitis (SC) and M. Biceps femoris (BF) from different populations of 326 pigs. The PRKAG3 alleles 199I, 199IV, 52S and 52G were identified with PCR-RFLPs and all genotypes - 199I/199I, 199I/199V, 199V/199V, 52S/52S, 52S/52G and 52G/52G - were found. The frequency of V allele was larger than that of I allele in all populations. I allele frequency was zero in Chinese Meishan pigs (population D) especially. G allele frequency was larger than that of S allele in all populations except Large White (population A). Both variations at the PRKAG3 locus significantly affected these meat quality traits. The pork meat quality has not previously been established in Meishan or crosses thereof. The results suggested that generally pH of LD, SC and BF was higher in Meishan pigs than that in other populations. Moreover, Meishan pigs showed higher water-holding capacity and intramuscular fat (IMF), lower water content and water loss percentage compared to other populations in terms of the two variations. The results present here supply new evidence that alleles V199I and G52S at the PRKAG3 locus affect pork meat quality and provide useful information on pork production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.1169-1173
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• 2007

The protein encoded by SLC27A2 gene is an isozyme of long-chain fatty-acid-coenzyme A ligase family, and it converts free long-chain fatty acids into fatty acyl-CoA esters, and thereby plays a key role in lipid biosynthesis and fatty acid degradation. In the present study, SLC27A2 located on human chromosome 15 was selected as candidate gene and we isolated and cloned partial fragments of mRNA sequence and genomic fragments of porcine SLC27A2 gene. The coding region of the gene as determined by alignments shared 90% and 82% identity with human and mouse cDNAs, respectively. Detection in LargeWhite and Meishan breeds showed that a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) ($A{\rightarrow}G$) existed in exon 7, which caused corresponding amino acid changed for encoding. In LargeWhite pigs it encoded for Val while in Meishan pigs it encoded for Ile, so we developed the PCR-RFLP genotype method for detection of this polymorphism. Association study in 135 $F_2$ reference family indicated that significant correlation existed between the polymorphism and growth and carcass traits.