• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.11
• /
• pp.1655-1661
• /
• 2007

Prolyl 4-hydroxylase (P4H) plays a central role in collagen synthesis by catalyzing the hydroxylation of the proline residue in the X-Pro-Gly amino acid sequence, and controls the biosynthesis of collagen that influences overall meat quality. In order to verify expression level of the catalytic ${\alpha}$ subunit of P4H, a 2.7 kb clone of the ${\alpha}$ subunit gene for P4H was selected from a cDNA library prepared from the muscular tissue of Sancheong berkshire pigs, and the whole gene sequence was determined. As expression level of the ${\alpha}$ subunit of P4H differed between tissues of pigs, we intended to assess more precisely the level of ${\alpha}$-subunit expression between tissues of Sancheong Berkshire pigs by using RT-PCR. Muscular and adipose tissues were taken from each pig grouped by growth stage (weighing 60, 80, and 110 kg) of Yorkshire and Sancheong Berkshire pigs, and the expression levels of the ${\alpha}$-subunit of P4H were examined. Since there were significant differences in the expression level with respect to variation in growth stage (p<0.01), an attempt was made to identify any influences of pig species and tissue variation. The muscular and adipose tissues of pigs weighing 110 kg showed higher expression levels than pigs weighing 60 kg and 80 kg. In general, significantly higher expression levels were found in muscular than in adipose tissue. The expression levels in Sancheong Berkshire were significantly higher than in Yorkshire pigs (p<0.01 or p<0.05). Since expression level of the ${\alpha}$-subunit of P4H affects the activity of P4H and is connected to the biosynthesis of collagen and increased collagen can improve meat texture, this finding may explain why meat quality of the Sancheong Berkshire pig is acclaimed in Korea. Given the higher expression levels of the ${\alpha}$-subunit gene in adipose than in muscular tissue, and also in the heavier pigs, more intensive studies are required to assess the correlation between expression level of the ${\alpha}$ subunit gene and overall meat quality.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.703-710
• /
• 2018

Bromodomain-containing protein 2 (BRD2) is a nuclear serine/threonine kinase involved in transcriptional regulation. We investigated the expression and association of the BRD2 gene as a candidate gene for meat quality traits in Berkshire pigs. BRD2 mRNA was expressed at relatively high levels in muscle tissue. Statistical analysis revealed that the c.1709G>C polymorphism of the BRD2 gene was significantly associated with carcass weight, meat color ($a^*$, redness), protein content, cooking loss, water-holding capacity, carcass temperatures 4, 12 and 24 h postmortem, and the 24 h postmortem pH in 384 Berkshire pigs. Therefore, this polymorphism in the porcine BRD2 gene may be used as a candidate genetic marker to improve meat quality traits in pigs.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.926-930
• /
• 2017

High-quality meat is of great economic importance to the pig industry. The 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferase 5 (AGPAT5) enzyme converts lysophosphatidic acid to phosphatidic acid in the mitochondrial membrane. In this study, we found that the porcine AGPAT5 gene was highly expressed in muscle tissue, influencing meat characteristics, and we also identified a non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism (nsSNP) (rs196952262, c.673 A>G) in the gene, associated with a change of isoleucine 225 to valine. The presence of this nsSNP was significantly associated with meat color (lightness), lower cooking loss, and lower carcass temperatures 1, 4, and 12 h after slaughter (items T1, T4, and T12 on the recognized quality scale, respectively), and tended to increase backfat thickness and the water-holding capacity. These results suggest that nsSNP (c.673A>G) of the AGPAT5 gene is a potential genetic marker of high meat quality in pigs.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.347-354
• /
• 2007

A simple and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography assay for the determination of residual novobiocin levels in bovine, porcine, chicken, flatfish and japanese eel muscle has been developed and validated. The separation condition for HPLC/UV was optimized with phenyl hexyl ($4.6{\times}150mm$, $5{\mu}m$) column with 10 mM monobasic sodium phosphate buffer (pH 2.5)/acetonitrile (50/50, v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and detection wavelength was set at 254 nm. Residues were extracted from tissue by blending with methanol and lipid materials were removed with n-hexane. Then, the methanol extract was evaporated to dryness under a nitrogen stream, reconstituted in the mobile phase. Aliquot of the organic extract was decanted and filtered through $0.45{\mu}m$ syringe filter. The $20{\mu}L$ of the resulting solution was injected into the HPLC system. The calibration ranges were $0.5{\sim}5{\mu}g/g$ and calibration curves were linear with coefficients of correlation better than 0.95. The limits of quantification were $0.5{\mu}g/g$ for all muscles. The recoveries of bovine, porcine, chicken, flatfish and japaneseel muscles were 99.8%, 102.4%, 91.0%, 104.0% and 93.0%, respectively. The procedures were validated according to the CODEX guideline, determining specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, quantitation limit and recovery.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.250-257
• /
• 2007

Functional gastrointestinal disorders affect millions of people of all age regardless of race and sex. There are, however, rare diagnostic methods for the functional gastrointestinal disorders because functional disorders show no evidence of organic and physical causes. Our research group identified recently that the gastrointestinal tract well in the patients with the functional gastrointestinal disorders becomes more rigid than healthy people when palpating the abdominal regions overlaying the gastrointestinal tract. The aim is, therefore, to develop a diagnostic method for the functional gastrointestinal disorders based on quantitative measurement of the rigidity of the gastrointestinal tract well using ultrasound technique. For this purpose, a preliminary ultrasound diagnostic system was developed and verified through phantom tests. The system consisted of transmitter, ultrasonic transducer, receiver, TGC, and CPLD, and verified via a phantom test. For the phantom test, ten soft-tissue specimens were harvested from porcine. Five of them were then treated chemically to mimic a rigid condition of gastrointestinal tract well, which was induced by functional gastrointestinal disorders. Additionally, the specimens were tested mechanically to identify if the mimic was reasonable. The customized ultrasound system was finally verified through application to human subjects with/without functional gastrointestinal disorders(Normal and Patient Groups). It was identified from the mechanical test that the chemically treated specimens were more rigid than normalspecimen. This finding was favorably compared with the result obtained from the phantom test. The phantom test also showed that ultrasound system well described the specimen geometric characteristics and detected an alteration in the specimens. The maximum amplitude of the ultrasonic reflective signal in the rigid specimens $(0.2{\pm}0.1Vp-p)$ at the interface between the fat and muscle layers was explicitly higher than that in the normal specimens $(0.1{\pm}0.0Vp-p)$ (p<0.05). Clinical tests using our customized ultrasound system for human subject showed that the maximum amplitudes of the ultrasonic reflective signals nea. to the gastrointestinal tract well for the patient group$(2.6{\pm}0.3Vp-p)$ were generally higher than those in normal group$(0.1{\pm}0.2Vp-p)$ (p<0.05). These results suggest that newly designed diagnostic system based on ultrasound technique may diagnose enough the functional gastrointestinal disorders.