Genetic polymorphism of the CAPN1 gene is associated with meat quality traits in Japanese quail

Abstract

1. The objective of the study was to investigate the polymorphisms in two regions of the calpain 1 (CAPN1) gene and their association with breast and thigh meat quality in Japanese quail (ultimate pH (pHu), lightness, redness, yellowness, drip loss, thawing-cooking loss, water holding capacity and shear force, SF). 2. Blood samples were collected randomly from 100 birds and DNA was extracted using a commercial kit. Genotypes were determined by PCR amplification followed by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. The effect of CAPN1 genotypes on meat quality traits were analysed using a general linear model (GLM) procedure. 3. Genotypes of the CAPN1 gene in the first region (217-bp) analysed were significantly associated with yellowness and SF. The TT genotype showed significantly higher yellowness and lower shear force (more tenderness) than CT and CC genotypes. Genotypes of the second region of the gene (intron 4, 800-bp) were significantly associated with pHu, redness and SF of the breast meat. The BB genotype showed significantly lower pHu and redness and higher SF (lower tenderness) than other genotypes. 4. Information on polymorphisms of the CAPN1 gene will eventually provide useful information for improving meat quality of Japanese quail through marker-assisted selection.

The Identification of Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Calpain 1 (CAPN1) Gene of Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

“…In this study, a genetic variant as g.103969C>T in the 4 th exon region and eight novel SNPs are identified as g.104116A>T, g.104118T>G, g.104148G>C, g.104169G>C, g.104172A>G, g.104179C>G, g.104181G>A, g.104184T>C in the 5 th exon region of CAPN1 gene in Japanese quail. Rasouli et al (2013) found that the genotypes of the CAPN1 gene in the 217-bp region were significantly related with yellowness and shear force. Soria et al (2009) and Smith et al (2009) reported similar findings and declared that when the myoglobin content of breast muscle was low, the yellowness of the meat could increase.…”

“…Primer sequences of CAPN1 gene was designed based on the quails sequence retrieved from GenBank (Accession number NW_015439879.1) using Primer-BLAST algorithm (https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/tools/primer-blast/). Primer sequences of CAPN1 gene are F: 5′-TGG AGT GCT TTG CTG GAG AAA GCC TA-3 and R: 5′-TGG TAG AGG TCT GCG GGG GGC TTG CG-3′ (Rasouli et al, 2013). The 25 µL PCR volume contained: 50 ng genomic DNA, 0.5 µM of each primers, 1× PCR Buffer, 200 µM dNTP, 2 mM MgCl2 and 1 U of Taq DNA polymerase (Invitrogen, Life Technologies).…”

“…Calpains, in particular μ-calpain, are responsible for the post mortem proteolysis processes in muscle tissue (Koohmaraie, 1992) and they have main influence on meat quality parameters in animals (Geesink and Koohmaraie, 1999a,b;Barendse, 2002;Sentandreu et al, 2002;Koohmaraie and Geesink, 2006;White et al, 2008;Rasouli et al, 2013). Proteolysis of myofibrillar proteins that are responsible for two antagonistic processes, myofibrillar protein synthesis and degradation are the primary reason for ultrastructural alterations in skeletal muscle related with meat tenderness (Goll et al, 2003).…”

RNA Profiles of the Korat Chicken Breast Muscle with Increased Carnosine Content Produced through Dietary Supplementation with β-Alanine or L-Histidine

“…Okumura et al [ 38 ] identified four calpain genes (i.e., CAPN1 , CAPN2 , CAPN3 , and CAPN1.5 ) that were ubiquitously expressed in chickens. Among these, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the CAPN1 gene was significantly related to meat tenderness in chickens and Japanese quail [ 10 , 39 ]. Moreover, Piórkowska et al [ 40 ] found that higher expression of the CAPN1 gene leads to higher tenderness in breast muscles in fast-growing broiler chickens.…”

Detection of a novel single nucleotide polymorphism in IGF2 gene with a negative impact on egg production and body weight in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)

“…Therefore, the issues of selecting the most favorable quail populations for egg production are mandatory. So that, several candidate genes have been selected and considered as a basis for market-associated selection and their association with the main productive traits has been analyzed [ 6 , 7 ]. In addition, a number of genomic regions linked to the production traits in Japanese quail have been identified using linkage analyses [ 8 – 11 ].…”