Betaine has been shown to enhance growth performance and increase breast muscle yield in ducks and broilers through various mechanisms, including the modification of DNA methylation. However, the ...impact of in ovo betaine injection on muscle growth in newly hatched goslings remains unclear. In this study, fifty eggs were injected with saline or betaine at 7.5 mg/egg prior to incubation, and the subsequent effects on breast muscle growth in the newly hatched goslings were investigated. Betaine significantly increased (P < 0.05) the hatch weight, breast muscle weight, and breast muscle index, accompanied by an augmentation in muscle bundle cross-sectional area. Concurrently, betaine significantly upregulated (P < 0.05) the expression levels of myogenic regulatory factors, including myogenin (MyoG) and paired box 7 (Pax7) both mRNA and protein, while downregulating (P < 0.05) the mRNA and protein levels of myostatin (MSTN). Histological analysis revealed a higher abundance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and Pax7 immune-positive cells in the breast muscle of the betaine group, consistent with elevated PCNA and Pax7 mRNA and protein levels. Additionally, significantly increased (P < 0.05) contents of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2) were observed in the breast muscle of the betaine group, so was mRNA expression of IGF-1, IGF-2, and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R). Betaine also significantly increased (P < 0.05) global DNA methylation of the breast muscle, accompanied by enhanced mRNA and protein levels of methionine cycle and DNA methylation-related enzymes, Interestingly, the promoter regions of IGF-1, IGF-2, and IGF-1R genes were significantly hypomethylated (P < 0.05). Moreover, in ovo betaine injection significantly upregulated (P < 0.05) the protein level of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) in breast muscle and FXR binding to the promoter of IGF-2 gene. These findings suggest that in ovo betaine injection promotes breast muscle growth during embryonic development in goslings through the FXR-mediated IGF-2 pathway, ultimately improving hatch weight and breast muscle weight.
Summary
Meat‐quality traits play an essential role in meat poultry production. To determine the genetic mechanisms of meat quality in Pekin ducks, we performed a large‐scale GWAS to identify ...quantitative trait loci affecting meat quality in Pekin ducks. We measured 10 traits in 542 Pekin ducks and genotyped each duck using genotyping‐by‐sequencing. The genetic parameters (genomic heritability, genetic correlation) for 10 meat‐quality related traits were evaluated. Based on the large genotype–phenotype dataset, we performed GWASs for all of these traits. A total of 33 significant QTL (P < 3.03 × 10−5) across 13 chromosomes were identified by loci‐based analysis. Some newly identified candidate genes were discovered for fat‐deposition and meat‐quality traits, including PAG1 for body weight and eviscerated weight, INTU and NUP35 for abdominal fat weight and ratio, NUP3 and ARHGDIB for skin fat weight and ratio, GOLGA5 for breast muscle toughness and breast tenderness, and CTDSPL and PKP1 for breast muscle thickness. The current study is the first systematic report regarding duck meat quality.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the fatty acid profile and health lipid indices of meat from 3 Polish local goose varieties (Romanian–RO, Pomeranian–PO, and Subcarpathian–SB) and the commercial ...cross White Kołuda goose (W31). Birds were fed ad libitum with the same complete feeds until 17 wk of age. The geese (n = 72) with body weight close to the arithmetic mean in particular flock were fasted for 12 h and slaughtered in an experimental slaughterhouse (18 females in each flock). Carcasses were stored at 2 to 4°C for 24 h. The breast muscles (m. pectoralis major) were cut out from the left side of carcass, separately vacuum-packed, and stored at −80°C until analysis. Fatty acid profile of meat was determined by gas chromatography and health lipid indices were calculated. The W31 muscles had a higher percentage of C 18:0 and a lower of C 16:0 than those of RO, PO, and SB geese. The W31 muscles were characterized by a significantly higher proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids (46.5%) than remaining ones (43.28%–PO, 43.38%–SB, and 44.24%–RO). The lowest proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids was established for W31 muscles (22.05%). The breast muscles of RO, SB, and PO had more favorable polyunsaturated n-6 and n-3 fatty acid (PUFA)/ saturated fatty acid (SFA) ratio (0.85, 0.82, 0.83, respectively) than W31 geese (0.72). The current findings showed that UFA/SFA, PUFA/SFA, and PUFA n-6/n-3 ratios in RO and SB muscles were within the optimum values for human diets. No significant differences were observed in the atherogenic, thrombogenic, and hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic indices between the analyzed muscles. Commercial W31 geese breast muscles showed a lower value (43.90%) of peroxidizability index (PI) compared to SB (52.88%), PO (53.93%), and RO (53.47%). However, the higher values of the PUFA/SFA and PI in the meat of SB, PO, and RO birds may indicate a higher prohealth value of their meat.
The number of myofiber is determined during the embryonic stage and does not increase during the postnatal period for birds, including goose. Thus, muscle production of adult goose is pre-determined ...during embryogenesis. Previous studies show N
-methyladenosine (m6A) is an important regulator for skeletal muscle development of birds and miRNAs play as a co-regulator for the skeletal muscle development in birds. Herein, we sequenced m6A and miRNA transcriptomes to investigate the profiles of m6A and their potential mechanism of regulating breast muscle development in Dingan Goose.
We selected embryonic 21th day (E21) and embryonic 30th day (E30) to investigate the roles of transcriptome-wide m6A modification combining with mRNAs and miRNAs in goose breast muscle development. In this study, m6A peaks were mainly enriched in coding sequence (CDS) and start codon and397 genes were identified as differentially methylated genes (DMGs). GO and KEGG analysis showed that DMGs were highly related to cellular and metabolic process and that most DMGs were enriched in muscle-related pathways including Wnt signaling pathway, mTOR signaling and FoxO signaling pathway. Interestingly, a negative correlation between m6A methylation level and mRNA abundance was found through the analysis of m6A-RNA and RNA-seq data. Besides, we found 26 muscle-related genes in 397 DMGs. We also detected 228 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs), and further found 329 genes shared by the target genes of DEMs and DMGs (m6A-miRNA-genes), suggesting a tightly relationship between DEMs and DMGs. Among the m6A-miRNA-genes, we found 10 genes are related to breast muscle development. We further picked out an m6A-miRNA-gene, PDK3, from the 10 genes to visualize it and the result showed differentially methylated peaks on the mRNA transcript consistent with our m6A-seq results.
GO and KEGG of DMGs between E21 and E30 showed most DMGs were muscle-related. In total, 228 DEMs were found, and the majority of DMGs were overlapped with the targets of DEGs. The differentially methylated peaks along with an m6A-miRNA-gene, PDK3, showed the similar results with m6A-seq results. Taken together, the results presented here provide a reference for further investigation of embryonic skeletal muscle development mechanism in goose.
The composition and content of fatty acids in the breast muscle are important factors influencing meat quality. In this study, we investigated the fatty acid composition and content in the breast ...muscle of Gushi chickens at different developmental stages (14 weeks, 22 weeks, and 30 weeks). Additionally, we utilized transcriptomic data from the same tissue and employed WGCNA and module identification methods to identify key genes associated with the fatty acid composition in Gushi chicken breast muscle and elucidate their regulatory networks. Among them, six modules (blue, brown, green, light yellow, purple, and red modules) showed significant correlations with fatty acid content and metabolic characteristics. Enrichment analysis revealed that these modules were involved in multiple signaling pathways related to fatty acid metabolism, including fatty acid metabolism, PPAR signaling pathway, and fatty acid biosynthesis. Through analysis of key genes, we identified 136 genes significantly associated with fatty acid phenotypic traits. Protein-protein interaction network analysis revealed that nine of these genes were closely related to fatty acid metabolism. Additionally, through correlation analysis of transcriptome data, we identified 51 key ceRNA regulatory networks, including six central genes, 7 miRNAs, and 28 lncRNAs. This study successfully identified key genes closely associated with the fatty acid composition in Gushi chicken breast muscle, as well as their post-transcriptional regulatory networks. These findings provide new insights into the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the flavor characteristics of chicken meat and the composition of fatty acids in the breast muscle.
•The growth rate of hybrid broilers increased significantly after 28 days.•Effects of different factors on gene expression were that tissue > age > sex.•Cell cycle pathway was closely related to the ...growth of breast muscle.
In China, the production mode of hybrid broilers with meat-type chicken as male parent and egg-type chicken as female parent is common, but few studies pay attention to the economic characteristics of hybrid broilers. In this experiment, we constructed a full-sib F1 population (n = 57) from male Recursive White broiler and female Lohmann Pink layer. Total 6, 6 and 7 hybrid broilers at days 1, 28 and 56 were selected randomly to collect breast muscle and liver tissues, respectively. After performing strand-specific RNA-Seq on these samples, we obtained 252.12 Gb sequencing data. Principal component analysis presented that the effects of different factors on gene expression were as below: tissue difference > age difference > sex difference. The ten genes with the highest expression in breast muscle were GAPDH, ACTA1, ATP2B3, COII, ATP6, COX3, COX1, MYL1, TNNI2 and ENSGALG00000042024. Through the analysis of differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) between different ages, we found that the number of DETs decreased progressively with the prolongation of ages in breast muscle. The same results were also observed in liver. GO enrichment analysis of DETs demonstrated that total 11 BP terms closely related to growth and development of breast muscle were annotated, such as cardiac muscle contract, muscle contract, cell division and so on. KEGG annotation presented that total 5 pathways related to growth and development were determined in breast muscle, including Cell cycle, Insulin signaling pathway, FoxO signaling pathway, Focal adhesion and Adrenergic signaling in cardiomyocytes. Our results may provide theoretical foundation for hybrid broiler production.
The effect of water bath cooking (WBC), oven convection roasting (OCR), grilling (G), pan-frying (PF) on the fatty acid profile and health lipid indices of goose meat was investigated in this study. ...The experimental material covered 80 breast muscles (40 with skin and subcutaneous fat and 40 without skin) cut from carcasses of 17-week-old “Polish oat geese”. The fatty acid profile of meat was determined by gas chromatography and health lipid indices were calculated. It was stated that the kind of heat treatment as well as the type of goose meat (muscles with and without skin) affected the fatty acid profile and health lipid indices. The sum of SFA was significantly higher in cooked samples for both kinds of meat than in raw ones. The cooked samples with skin had a lower increase in Ʃ SFA than the skinless meat. Boiling (meat without skin) and pan-frying (both kinds of meat) caused a slight decrease, while grilling and oven convection roasting (both kinds of meat) caused an increase of Ʃ MUFA in comparison to raw samples. Moreover, meat with skin is characterized by a higher value of Ʃ MUFA than meat without skin for all cooking methods. The Ʃ PUFA was lower in all cooked samples than in raw meat, wherein this decline was usually higher for skinned meat. The G meat was the lowest and PF the highest in Σ PUFA for both kinds of meat after heat treatment. The highest loss showed C20:4 n-6 in OCR samples and the lowest C18:2 n-6 in PF (both kinds of meat). Heat treatment caused an increase in the Σ PUFA n-6/n-3 ratio, wherein the lowest value was shown by the WBC samples without skin, and the highest by OCR with skin. Water bath cooking of meat was more beneficial for consumers in terms of AI, TI, Σ DFA/Σ OFA, Σ PUFA/Σ SFA, Σ UFA/Σ SFA indexes and Σ SFA, Σ OFA values than the remaining methods.
In this study, we investigated the effects of genotype and Phytolacca dodecandra (Endod) supplementation on the growth, carcass traits, blood profiles, and breast meat quality of chickens. The study ...lasted for 18 weeks and involved 360 unsexed day-old chicks divided into nine groups with 40 chicks each, replicated four times with 10 chicks per replication. The genotypes studied were Naked-neck * Tetra H, Normal-feathered * Tetra H, crosses and Tetra H * Tetra H, while the diets included a standard commercial ration (C), Phytolacca dodecandra (Endod) at 1 g/kg (C+1), and Phytolacca dodecandra (Endod) at 2 g/kg (C+2). Results showed that both diet and genotype influenced growth performance indicators like final body weight, body weight change, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio, particularly during the grower and entire phases. When compared to the control diet, the Phytolacca dodecandra (Endod) chicks supplemented at 1 g/kg showed better performances. The genotypes also affected dressing percentage, breast, thigh, keel bone, and gizzard components, with higher values found in the Naked-neck by Tetra H cross. The supplemented chicken group exhibited an improvement in the dressing percentage and breast muscle in comparison to the control. Blood parameters were also significantly influenced (P < 0.01) by genotype, diet, and their interaction. Supplementation significantly (P < 0.01) increased protein levels while reducing the cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood. Incorporating Phytolacca dodecandra (Endod) at a rate of 1 g/kg into the diet of chickens brought a significant improvement in the protein content, and a reduction in the fat content, of their breast muscles. In general, the study indicates that adding up to 2 g/kg of Phytolacca dodecandra (endod) to chicken feed enhances growth performance traits, carcass traits, blood profiles, and breast muscle protein levels, without any negative consequences.
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