An Animal Model of Non-Descript and Exotic Breeds of Pigs to Study Relative Expression Profiling of Key Genes of Muscle Development and Body Growth in Postnatal Longissimus Dorsi Muscle

Pork meat is considered to be one of the cheapest source of animal protein. The pork from non-descript pigs is considered to be tenderer and juicy. Yet the growth rate in non-descript pigs is low. Pig rearing in the socio-economically weaker section had been highly preferred as it provides insurance against agricultural loses. The present study focuses on to study the relative expression of key genes of growth (ARID5B, COL2A1), muscle organ morphogenesis (MyBPH, PDK4) and protein phosphorylation (PKM2 and POSTN) in Longissimus dorsi muscle of Large White Yorkshire (LWY) and non-descript pigs. The qualitative and quantitative differential expression were performed by agarose gel electrophoresis and qRT-PCR. The expression of all genes showed a significant difference (P<0.05) between both the breeds except PKM2 (P>0.05). The gene MyBPH was significantly (P<0.05) upregulated in non-descript while other genes i.e. ARID5B, COL2A1, PDK4 and POSTN were significantly (P<0.05) down-regulated in nondescript pig muscles. With the help of this data we can say that the pork from non-descript pig is tender and juicy due to higher expression of MyBPH in them but the body growth rate is low due to low expression seen in ARID5B, COL2A1, PDK4 and POSTN genes. Therefore the present study can be used as a pioneer data to understand the genetic basis of differences between the meat quality of non-descript and LWY breeds of pig.

• We studied relative expression of genes involved in growth, muscle organ morphogenesis and protein phosphorylation.

• The study will help in understanding the genetic basis of differences relating to the meat quality.