Association analysis of PRKAG3 gene variants with carcass and meat quality traits in beef cattle

Abstract

The bovine PRKAG3 gene encodes a muscle-specific isoform of the regulatory gamma-subunit of adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK), which plays a key role in regulating energy homeostasis in eukaryotes. It is well known that mutations in the PRKAG3 gene affect high glycogen content in the porcine skeletal muscle and, consequently, meat quality. Therefore, this gene has been proposed as a positional and functional candidate gene for a quantitative trait locus (QTL) with an effect on meat quality traits. In this study, we detected four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the PRKAG3 gene (DQ082736) in 267 beef cattle. The SNP marker association analysis indicated that the SNP markers T2885C was significantly associated with tenderness trait. Animals with the TT genotype had lower Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBS) than those with the other genotypes. Results of this study suggest that the PRKAG3-gene-specific SNP may be a useful marker for meat quality traits in future marker-assisted selection programmes in beef cattle.

Key words: Association analysis, beef cattle, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) polymorphism, PRKAG3 gene.