title: Profile of muscle tissue gene expression specific to water buffalo: Comparison with domestic cattle by genome array.
abstract: In contrast with the past, the water buffalo is now not only a draft animal, but also an important food source of milk and meat. It is increasingly apparent that the water buffalo have huge potential for meat production, but its breeding needs to be investigated. Regarding the molecular mechanisms involved in the meat quality difference between the buffalo (Bubalus bulabis) and yellow cattle (Bos taurus), 12 chemical-physical characteristics related to the meat quality of longissimus thoracis muscles (LTM) have been compared at the age of 36 months. Intramuscular lipid and b* (yellowness) were greater in cattle than the buffalo, whereas a* (redness) was greater in the buffalo. Gene expression profiles were constructed by bovine genome array. A total of 8884 and 10,960 probes were detected in buffalo and cattle, respectively, with 1580 genes being differentially expressed. Over 400 probes were upregulated and nearly 1200 were downregulated in LTM of the buffalo, most being involved in ribosomal RNA (rRNA) processing, cholesterol homeostasis, regulation of transcription, response to hypoxia, and glycolysis. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to validate the microarray data. Enriched GO analyses of highly expressed genes in LTM showed that protein biosynthesis, striated muscle contraction, iron homeostasis, iron transport, glycolysis and glucose metabolism were similar between the buffalo and cattle. High protein content, low fat content and deep meat color of buffalo LTM may be closely associated with the increased expression of genes involved in cholesterol and iron homeostasis, while also reducing the expression of genes involved in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and protein oxidative phosphorylation. These results establish the groundwork for further studies on buffalo meat quality and will be beneficial in improving water buffalo breeding by molecular biotechnology.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China; National Beef Cattle Improvement Center of Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Hongbao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Linsheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gui
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Hongcheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Chugang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Yaran
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Huaichao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China; National Beef Cattle Improvement Center of Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Cunlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China; National Beef Cattle Improvement Center of Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China. Electronic address: zanlinsen@163.com.
authors.forename: Linsen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002020:Buffaloes / Q000235:genetics*; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000662:veterinary; D063990:Gene Ontology; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008460:Meat / Q000592:standards*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary
keywords: Buffalo; Cattle; Gene expression profile; Skeletal muscle tissues