Lack of an association between a single nucleotide polymorphism in the bovine myogenic determination 1 (MyoD1) gene and meat quality traits in indigenous Chinese cattle breeds

J.A. Ujan, L.S. Zan, H.B. Wang, S.A. Ujan, C. Adoligbe, H.C. Wang, S.F. Biao
Published: September 27, 2011
Genet. Mol. Res. 10 (3) : 2213-2222
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4238/vol10-3gmr1141

Cite this Article:
J.A. Ujan, L.S. Zan, H.B. Wang, S.A. Ujan, C. Adoligbe, H.C. Wang, S.F. Biao (2011). Lack of an association between a single nucleotide polymorphism in the bovine myogenic determination 1 (MyoD1) gene and meat quality traits in indigenous Chinese cattle breeds. Genet. Mol. Res. 10(3): 2213-2222. https://doi.org/10.4238/vol10-3gmr1141

About the Authors
J.A. Ujan, L.S. Zan, H.B. Wang, S.A. Ujan, C. Adoligbe, H.C. Wang, S.F. Biao
Corresponding Author: L.S. Zan
Email: zanls@yahoo.com.cn

ABSTRACT

The myogenic determination 1 (MyoD1) gene is a member of the MyoD gene family. It encodes for skeletal muscle-specific transcription factors containing highly conserved basic helix-loop-helix regions that perform important roles in the initiation, maintenance, and regulation of phenotypic traits. We investigated a new single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the MyoD1 gene to evaluate whether this polymorphism affects meat quality traits in five Chinese indigenous cattle breeds, namely Qinchuan (QC), Xia-Nan (XN), Nan-yang (NY), Luxi (LX), and Jia-xian red (JXR). A C→G transversion at position 624 was detected in exon 1 of the MyoD1 gene; it causes an amino acid substitution (624serine/624cysteine). Least squares analysis showed that this SNP is not significantly associated with back fat thickness, eye muscle area, intramuscular fat, or marbling. The A/B allelic frequencies in the five breeds were 0.810/0.189, 0.779/0.220, 0.768/0.231, 0.820/0.180, and 0.801/0.198, respectively. Based on the χ2 test, the genotype distributions of four cattle breeds (LX, NY, QC, and XN) did not agree with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P < 0.05); one breed (JXR) did not deviate significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05). The genotypic frequencies among all five cattle breeds showed moderate diversity (0.25 < polymorphism information content < 0.5). We concluded that the C624G SNP of the MyoD1 gene does not influence meat quality traits in indigenous Chinese cattle breeds; however, this SNP could be included in breed composition and population admixture analyses due to the marked differences in allelic frequencies among these five breeds.

Key words: Allelic frequencies, Myogenic determination gene 1, meat quality, Single nucleotide polymorphism, Qinchuan cattle, Single nucleotide polymorphism.

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