Variants in myostatin and MyoD family genes are associated with meat quality traits in Santa Inês sheep

Abstract

Myostatin and MyoD family genes play vital roles in myogenesis and this study aimed to identify association of variants in <i>MyoD1</i>, <i>MyoG</i>, <i>MyF5</i>, <i>MyF6</i>, and <i>MSTN</i> genes with meat traits in Santa Inês sheep. A dataset with 44 variants and records of seven meat traits in 192 lambs (pH0, pH24, a*, b*, L*, tenderness assessed by shear force, and water-holding capacity) was used. Single-locus and haplotype association analyses were performed, and the significance threshold was established according to Bonferroni's method. Single-locus analysis revealed two associations at a Bonferroni level, where the variant <i>c.935-185C > G</i> in <i>MyoD1</i> had an additive effect (-4.31 ± 1.08 N) on tenderness, while the variant <i>c.464 + 185G > A</i> in <i>MyoG</i> had an additive effect (-2.86 ± 0.64) on a*. Additionally, the haplotype replacement <i>GT</i>><i>AC</i> in <i>MSTN</i> was associated with pH0 (1.26 ± 0.31), pH24 (1.07 ± 0.27), a* (-1.40 ± 0.51), and tenderness (3.83 ± 1.22 N), while the replacement <i>GT > AG</i> in <i>MyoD1</i> was associated with pH0 (1.43 ± 0.26), pH24 (1.25 ± 0.22), b* (-1.06 ± 0.39), and tenderness (-4.13 ± 1.16 N). Our results have demonstrated that some variants in <i>MyoG</i>, <i>MyF6</i>, <i>MyoD1</i>, and <i>MSTN</i> can be associated with physicochemical meat traits in Santa Inês sheep.