Transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal improved performance of Hu sheep on hybridization with Southdown sheep

Lingying Kong; Yaojing Yue; Jianye Li; Bohui Yang; Bowen Chen; Jianbin Liu; Zengkui Lu

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2023.113240

Transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal improved performance of Hu sheep on hybridization with Southdown sheep

Food Res Int. 2023 Nov;173(Pt 1):113240. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2023.113240. Epub 2023 Jul 11.

Authors

Lingying Kong¹, Yaojing Yue², Jianye Li², Bohui Yang², Bowen Chen², Jianbin Liu³, Zengkui Lu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on the Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China; Sheep Breeding Engineering Technology Research Center of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China; College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China.
² Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on the Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China; Sheep Breeding Engineering Technology Research Center of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on the Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China; Sheep Breeding Engineering Technology Research Center of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China. Electronic address: liujianbin@caas.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on the Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China; Sheep Breeding Engineering Technology Research Center of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China. Electronic address: luzengkui@caas.cn.

PMID: 37803553
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2023.113240

Abstract

Consumers are increasingly demanding high-quality mutton. Cross breeding can improve meat quality and is widely used in sheep breeding. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of cross breeding sheep meat quality. In this study, male Southdown and female Hu sheep were hybridized. The slaughter performance and longissimus dorsi quality of the 6-month-old hybrid offspring were measured, and the longissimus dorsi of the hybrid offspring was analyzed by transcriptomics and metabolomics to explore the effect of cross breeding on meat quality. The results showed that the production performance of Southdown × Hu F₁ sheep was significantly improved, the carcass fat content was significantly decreased, and the eating quality of Southdown × Hu F₁ sheep were better. Compared with the HS group (Hu × Hu), the NH group (Southdown × Hu) had 538 differentially expressed genes and 166 differentially expressed metabolites (P < 0.05), which were significantly enriched in amino acid metabolism and other related pathways. Up-regulated genes METTL21C, PPARGC1A and down-regulated gene WFIKKN2 are related to muscle growth and development. Among them, the METTL21C gene, which is related to muscle development, was highly correlated with carnosine, a metabolite related to meat quality (correlation > 0.6 and P < 0.05). Our results provide further understanding of the molecular mechanism of cross breeding for sheep muscle growth and meat quality optimization.

Keywords: Cross breeding; Longissimus dorsi quality; Metabolomics; Muscle development; Slaughter performance; Transcriptomics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Female
Gene Expression Profiling
Hybridization, Genetic
Male
Muscles
Sheep / genetics
Sheep, Domestic* / genetics
Transcriptome*