Genotypic effects of calpain 1 and calpastatin on the tenderness of cooked M. longissimus dorsi steaks from Jersey × Limousin, Angus and Hereford‐cross cattle

Abstract

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the calpain 1 (CAPN1) and calpastatin (CAST) genes were studied to determine their effects on meat tenderness in Bos taurus cattle. Strip loins (M. longissimus dorsi) were removed from cattle in four resource populations after slaughter (n = 1042), aged under controlled conditions until fixed times after rigor mortis, cooked and measured using a tenderometer. Animals were genotyped for the CAPN1 SNP c.947C>G (p.Ala316Gly; AF252504) and for the CAST SNP c.2959A>G (AF159246). Frequencies of CAPN1 C alleles ranged from 23% to 68%, and CAST A alleles from 84% to 99.5%. From all data combined, the CAPN1 CC genotype (compared with the GG genotype) was associated with a 20.1 +/- 1.7% reduced average shear force at intermediate stages of ageing (P < 0.001) and with a 9.5 +/- 1.3% reduction near ultimate tenderness (P < 0.001). The heterozygote was intermediate. For CAST, corresponding values for AA compared with AG genotypes were reductions of 8.6 +/- 2.0% and 5.1 +/- 1.6% respectively (both P < 0.001), but there were too few GG genotypes for comparison. There were small interactions between the CAPN1 and CAST genotypes. For the CAPN1 and CAST genotypes combined, the maximal genotype effect in average shear force was 25.7 +/- 5.5% (P < 0.001) at intermediate stages and 15.2 +/- 4.8% near ultimate tenderness (P < 0.01).

Recent advances in cattle functional genomics and their application to beef quality

“…Confirmations for the calpain and calpastatin genes have been reported by several authors (Page et al, 2004;Casas et al, 2006;Morris et al, 2006;Schenkel et al, 2006). For marbling several of the genes have been confirmed in some studies while in others some tests have failed to be confirmed (Thaller et al, 2003;Nkrumah et al, 2004;Barendse et al, 2005;Kononoff et al, 2005;Nkrumah et al, 2005;Pollak, 2005;Schenkel et al, 2005;Barendse et al, 2006;Rincker et al, 2006).…”

Association of SNPs on CAPN1 and CAST genes with tenderness in Nellore cattle

“…Polymorphisms on the calpain gene have been tested for many times in association studies for meat quality traits, mainly for tenderness and marbling (Smith et al, 2000;Page et al, 2002Page et al, , 2004White et al, 2005;Casas et al, 2005Casas et al, , 2006Morris et al, 2006;Corva et al, 2007;Cheong et al, 2008). The calpain gene encodes the protease μ-calpain that is involved in postmortem proteolysis (Koohmaraie, 1996), thus calpain is a good candidate gene for tenderness.…”

Estimación de las frecuencias alélicas y genotípicas de los genes CAPN1 Y CAST asociados a la calidad de la carne en bovinos de la Cuenca del Papaloapan

“…Los hatos se mantienen con pocos insumos y escaso uso de tecnología. La información genómica y el uso de algunas de sus herramientas como la PCR y las enzimas de restricción para la genotipificación, se pueden usar en complemento con la información genealógica e información fenotípica de los animales, para el diseño de estrategias de selección genética y mejorar así las características de importancia económica como son, la calidad de la leche y el grado de terneza o Diversos estudios han demostrado que variaciones genotípicas de μ-CAPN, m-CAPN y su inhibidor CAST están relacionadas con características de importancia económica como la terneza de la carne (Barendse et al, 2002;Morris et al, 2006) y se han propuestos como marcadores moleculares (Casas et al, 2006). Por ello, en el presente trabajo se determinaron las frecuencias genotípicas y alélicas de los polimorfismos CAPN1-316, CAPN1-530 y CAST en ganado de doble propósito en la región cuenca del Papaloapan en el estado de Oaxaca.…”