CIDE gene expression in adipose tissue, liver, and skeletal muscle from obese and lean pigs

Full-Length Transcriptome Analysis of Skeletal Muscle of Jiangquan Black Pig at Different Developmental Stages

Skeletal muscle grows in response to a combination of genetic and environmental factors, and its growth and development influence the quality of pork. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms regulating the growth and development of skeletal muscle is of great significance to both animal husbandry and farm management. The Jiangquan black pig is an excellent pig breed based on the original Yimeng black pig, importing the genes of the Duroc pig for meat traits, and cultivated through years of scientific selection and breeding. In this study, full-length transcriptome sequencing was performed on three growth stages of Jiangquan black pigs, aiming to study the developmental changes in Jiangquan black pigs at different developmental stages at the molecular level and to screen the key genes affecting the growth of skeletal muscle in Jiangquan black pigs. We performed an enrichment analysis of genes showing differential expression and constructed a protein-protein interaction network with the aim of identifying core genes involved in the development of Jiangquan black pigs. Notably, genes such as TNNI2, TMOD4, PLDIM3, MYOZ1, and MYH1 may be potential regulators of muscle development in Jiangquan black pigs. Our results contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of skeletal muscle development in this pig breed, which will facilitate molecular breeding efforts and the development of pig breeds to meet the needs of the livestock industry.

Effects of main active components of rosemary on growth performance, meat quality and lipid metabolism in finishing pigs

Rosemary extracts have been widely used as feed additives in recent years. This study aimed to investigate the effects of rosmarinic acid (RA) and ursolic acid (UA), the main active components of rosemary, on growth performance, meat quality and lipid metabolism in finishing pigs. A total of 72 finishing pigs (Landrace; initial age of 150 d) were randomly divided into 3 treatments with 8 replicates of 3 pigs each, and fed a basal diet or diet containing 500 mg/kg of RA or UA. The results showed that dietary supplementation of RA or UA had no significant effect on the growth performance and carcass traits of finishing pigs (P > 0.05). However, both RA and UA significantly increased the triglyceride (TG) level in soleus muscle (P < 0.001). Supplementation of RA increased the expression of genes related to lipogenesis and transport including fatty acid synthase (FAS) (P < 0.001), sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP1c) (P < 0.001) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) (P < 0.05), while UA increased the expression of fatty acid transport protein 1 (FATP1), a gene related to lipid uptake (P < 0.05). However, RA reduced the expression of adipogenesis-related gene acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase α (ACCα) (P < 0.01). Characterization of cecal microbiota indicated that RA increased the microbial richness (chao 1, P < 0.001) and diversity (observed species, P < 0.01). Further analysis of the genera revealed that RA increased the relative abundance of Bacteroides and g-UCG-005 (P < 0.05), and UA enriched Prevotella (P < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed that g-UCG-005 was positively correlated with the expression of FAS, carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1B (CPT1B), SREBP1c and PPARγ (P < 0.01). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of RA or UA may increase fat deposition in muscle of finishing pigs by regulating lipid metabolism and gut microbiota.

Circular RNA transcriptome across multiple tissues reveal skeletal muscle-specific circPSME4 regulating myogenesis

There are significant differences in meat production, growth rate and other traits between Western commercial pigs and Chinese local pigs. Comparative transcriptome approaches have identified many coding and non-coding candidate genes associated various traits. However, the expression and function of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in different pig tissues are largely unknown. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the genome-wide circRNA expression profile across ten tissues in Luchuan (a Chinese local breed) and Duroc (a Western commercial breed) pigs. We identified a total of 56,254 circRNAs, of which 42.9 % were not previously annotated. We found that 33.7 % of these circRNAs were differentially expressed. Enrichment analysis revealed that differentially expressed circRNAs might contribute to the phenotypic differentiation between Luchuan and Duroc pigs. We identified 538 tissue-specific circRNAs, most of which were specifically expressed in the brain and skeletal muscle. Competitive endogenous RNA network analysis suggested that skeletal muscle-specific circPSME4 was co-expressed with MYOD1 and targeted by ssc-miR-181d-3p. Functional analysis revealed that circPSME4 knockdown could promote the proliferation and differentiation of myoblasts. Together, our findings provide valuable resources of circRNAs for animal breeding and biomedical research. We demonstrated that circPSME4 is a novel regulator of skeletal muscle development.

Transcriptomic Profiling of Meat Quality Traits of Skeletal Muscles of the Chinese Indigenous Huai Pig and Duroc Pig

The Huai pig is a well-known indigenous pig breed in China. The main advantages of Huai pigs over Western commercial pig breeds include a high intramuscular fat (IMF) content and good meat quality. There are significant differences in the meat quality traits of the same muscle part or different muscle parts of the same variety. To investigate the potential genetic mechanism underlying the meat quality differences in different pig breeds or muscle groups, longissimus dorsi (LD), psoas major (PM), and biceps femoris (BF) muscle tissues were collected from two pig breeds (Huai and Duroc). There were significant differences in meat quality traits and amino acid content. We assessed the muscle transcriptomic profiles using high-throughput RNA sequencing. The IMF content in the LD, PM, and BF muscles of Huai pigs was significantly higher than that in Duroc pigs (p < 0.05). Similarly, the content of flavor amino acids in the three muscle groups was significantly higher in Huai pigs than that in Duroc pigs (p < 0.05). We identified 175, 110, and 86 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the LD, PM, and BF muscles of the Huai and Duroc pigs, respectively. The DEGs of the different pig breeds and muscle regions were significantly enriched in the biological processes and signaling pathways related to muscle fiber type, IMF deposition, lipid metabolism, PPAR signaling, cAMP signaling, amino acid metabolism, and ECM-receptor interaction. Our findings might help improve pork yield by using the obtained DEGs for marker-assisted selection and providing a theoretical reference for evaluating and improving pork quality.

A Comparison Study on the Therapeutic Effect of High Protein Diets Based on Pork Protein versus Soybean Protein on Obese Mice

In this study, an obese C57BL/6J mice model was induced to compare the effect of different high protein diets (soybean protein and pork protein) on obesity. The obese mice were randomly divided into four groups: natural recovery (NR), high-fat diet (HF), high soybean protein diet (HSP), and high pork protein diet (HPP) groups. After 12 weeks of dietary intervention, the obesity-related indexes of mice were measured, such as body weight, fat coefficients, blood lipid indexes and so on. Results showed that HSP and HPP decreased the weight and fat coefficients of mice, the levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and leptin (p < 0.05). Soybean protein was shown to be more effective in reducing the weight and fat mass of obese mice, although pork protein seemed to have a better effect on regulating serum triglyceride (TG). In addition, the two high protein diets both alleviated hepatic fat deposition effectively. Furthermore, HPP and HSP decreased the expression of hepatic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) and increased the protein expression of phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (pAMPK), phosphorylated acetyl CoA carboxylase (pACC), and uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the study shows that high protein diets based on both pork protein and soybean protein alleviated abdominal obesity in mice effectively by regulating lipid metabolism, probably via the UCP2-AMPK-ACC signaling pathway.

A high-fat diet increases body fat mass and up-regulates expression of genes related to adipogenesis and inflammation in a genetically lean pig

Because of their physiological similarity to humans, pigs provide an excellent model for the study of obesity. This study evaluated diet-induced adiposity in genetically lean pigs and found that body weight and energy intake did not differ between controls and pigs fed the high-fat (HF) diet for three months. However, fat mass percentage, adipocyte size, concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), insulin, and leptin in plasma were significantly higher in HF pigs than in controls. The HF diet increased the expression in backfat tissue of genes responsible for cholesterol synthesis such as Insig-1 and Insig-2. Lipid metabolism-related genes including sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c), fatty acid synthase 1 (FASN1), diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2), and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) were significantly up-regulated in backfat tissue, while the expression of proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α) and carnitine palmitoyl transferase 2 (CPT2), both involved in fatty acid oxidation, was reduced. In liver tissue, HF feeding significantly elevated the expression of SREBP-1c, FASN1, DGAT2, and hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α (HNF-4α) mRNAs. Microarray analysis further showed that the HF diet had a significant effect on the expression of 576 genes. Among these, 108 genes were related to 21 pathways, with 20 genes involved in adiposity deposition and 26 related to immune response. Our results suggest that an HF diet can induce genetically lean pigs into obesity with body fat mass expansion and adipose-related inflammation.