Transcriptomics Analysis on Excellent Meat Quality Traits of Skeletal Muscles of the Chinese Indigenous Min Pig Compared with the Large White Breed

The Min pig (Sus scrofa) is a well-known indigenous breed in China. One of its main advantages over European breeds is its high meat quality. Additionally, different cuts of pig also show some different traits of meat quality. To explore the underlying mechanism responsible for the differences of meat quality between different breeds or cuts, the longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) and the biceps femoris muscle (BF) from Min and Large White pigs were investigated using transcriptome analysis. The gene expression profiling identified 1371 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between LM muscles from Min and Large White pigs, and 114 DEGs between LM and BF muscles from the same Min pigs. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment of biological functions and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that the gene products were mainly involved in the IRS1/Akt/FoxO1 signaling pathway, adenosine 5-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) cascade effects, lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism pathway. Such pathways contributed to fatty acid metabolism, intramuscular fat deposition, and skeletal muscle growth in Min pig. These results give an insight into the mechanisms underlying the formation of skeletal muscle and provide candidate genes for improving meat quality. It will contribute to improving meat quality of pigs through molecular breeding.