Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (2): 364-375.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2021.02.009

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Key Regulatory Factors of Intramuscular Fat Deposition in Donkey

LI Wufeng1*, SUN Yutong1, GUAN Jiawei1, ZHAO Jingwei1, DU Min2*   

  1. 1. College of Life Sciences, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China;
    2. Department of Animal Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-6310, USA
  • Received:2020-07-15 Online:2021-02-23 Published:2021-02-24

Abstract: The aim of this study was to screen the key regulatory factors of intramuscular fat deposition in donkey based on transcriptome (RNA-Seq) and metabolome (UPLC-MS/MS) association analysis. Thirty female Guangling donkeys with the same feeding condition and average body weight of 236.10 kg were selected to detect the content of intramuscular fat (IMF) in the longi-ssimus dorsi. According to the level of IMF content, the donkeys were divided into two groups: the low-IMF group (L group, n=3) and the high-IMF group (H group, n=3), the transcriptomics and metabolomics sequencing analysis were performed. KEGG association analysis and correlation analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differential metabolites (DAMs) were carried out, and the correlation network was constructed. The results showed that a total of 72 differential metabolites were identified between L group and H group, of which 27 metabolites were up-regulated and 45 metabolites were down-regulated. Correlation analysis showed that a total of 35 co-enriched pathways were identified between DEGs and DAMs, among them, glycerolipid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, linoleic acid metabolism and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids pathways were associated with the IMF deposition. A total of 8 DEGs and 15 DAMs were enriched in the 5 pathways, including DGKA, DGAT2, PLA2G3, GPCPD1 and SCD, as well as the DAMs such as glycerol-3-phosphate(G3P), lysophosphatidic acid(LPA), lysophosphatidylcholine(LPC), docosahexaenoic acid(DHA) and arachidonic acid(AA). In addition, the DGAT2, PLA2G3, GPCPD1 and DGKA genes in the glycerolipid metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways were found to be highly correlated with their corresponding metabolites by network map analysis. DEGs identified in this study might be potential candidate genes related to IMF deposition, which would provide a theoretical basis for further research on the molecular regulation mechanism of IMF deposition and molecular breeding for meat quality of donkey.

Key words: Guangling donkey, intramuscular fat deposition, transcriptome, metabolome, association analysis

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