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The aim of this study was to validate previously reported associations between microarray gene expression levels and pork quality traits using real-time PCR. Meat samples and meat quality data from 100 pigs were collected from a different pig breed to the one tested by microarray (Large White versus Pietrain) and a different country of origin (Denmark versus Germany). Ten genes (CARP, MB, CSRP3, TNNC1, VAPB, TNNI1, HSPB1, TNNT1, TIMP-1, RAD-like) were chosen from the original microarray study on the basis of the association between gene expression levels and the meat quality traits meat %, back fat, pH24, drip loss %, colour a*, colour b*, colour L*, WB-SF, SFA, MUFA, PUFA. Real-time PCR detection methods were developed for validation of all ten genes, confirming association with drip loss (two of two genes), ultimate pH (three of four genes), a* (redness) (two of six genes) and L*(lightness) (two of four genes). Furthermore, several new correlations for MUFA and PUFA were established due to additional meat quality trait information on fatty acid composition not available for the microarray study. Regression studies showed that the maximum explanation of the phenotypic variance of the meat quality traits was 50% for the ultimate pH trait using these ten genes only. Additional studies showed that the gene expression of several of the genes was correlated with each other. We conclude that the genes initially selected from the microarray study were robust, explaining variances of the genes for the meat quality traits., (© 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

Selection of pigs for increased meat production or improved meat quality changes muscle mass and muscle composition. This will be related to transcriptome expression profile changes in muscle tissue, generating inter-individual differences. This study investigated the differentially expressed genes in the transcriptome profiles of the longissimus muscle of 75 Large White-Duroc cross sows and castrates. The use of a common reference design enabled to investigate the inter-individual transcriptome expression profile differences between the animals as compared with the means of all animals. The aim of the study was to identify the biological processes related to these inter-individual differences. It was expected that these processes underlie the selection effects. In total, 908 transcripts were differentially expressed. Among them, 762 were mainly downregulated and 146 were mainly upregulated. Gene Ontology and Pathways analyses indicated that the differentially expressed genes belong to three groups of processes involved in protein synthesis and amino acid-protein metabolism, energy metabolism and muscle-specific structure and activity processes. Comparing the functional biological analysis results with previously reported data suggested that the protein synthesis, energy metabolism and muscle-specific structure would contribute to meat production and the meat quality., (© 2012 Wageningen University.)