Investigation on variability of candidate genes for meat quality traits in Piemontese cattle

This study aimed to investigate the variability of 15 genes chosen according to their function as markers of meat quality traits in Piemontese cattle. Meat samples of Longissimus thoracis muscle and data on carcass weight (CW), shear force (SF), cooking loss (CL), and pH collected on 1,208 Piemontese young bulls progeny of 109 AI sires were available for this investigation. For each trait considered (CW, SF, CL, pH), 48 samples were chosen from each tail of normal distribution, and one or more single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were determined for the following loci: growth hormone (GH), growth hormone receptor (GHR), pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), pituitary-specific positive transcription factor 1 (POU1F1), melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R), corticotrophin-realising hormone (CRH), insulin-like growth factor binding protein- 3 (IGFBP3), diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), thyroglobulin (TG), carboxypeptidase E (CPE), calpain 1 (CAPN1), calpastatin (CAST), cathepsin B and D (CATB, CATD), and protein kinase adenosine monophosphate-activated γ3-subunit (PRKAG3). Eight SNPs were characterized by a high, 4 by an intermediate and 2 by a low variability; 6 may be almost fixed. Based on these results, variable loci will be investigated on the entire available data set in order to study their effects on meat quality traits.