Nellore meat quality and genomics

Author(s)

Anirene Galvão Tavares Pereira

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Piracicaba.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC)
• Defense date: 2016-07-01

Examining board members

Carmen Josefina Contreras Castillo; José Fernando Garcia; Angélica Simone Cravo Pereira; Saulo da Luz e Silva; Adam Taiti Harth Utusnomiya

• Advisor: Carmen Josefina Contreras Castillo; José Fernando Garcia

Abstract

This study was developed in order to explore chromosomal regions associated with carcass and meat traits in Nellore cattle breed, identifying metabolic and genetic pathways related to its characteristics expression, as well as generate additional phenotypes for future genome association studies, in order to fully describe parameters related to final product quality. Thereunto, 995 bulls were genotyped for more than 770,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), were evaluated for body weight at birth, weight gain at weaning and yearling, conformation, finishing precocity and muscling at weaning and yearling. These traits are correlated, therefore, genomic mapping method were applied in order to identify pleiotropic regions. Results highlighted previously described genomic regions associated to beef cattle weight gain and growth traits, particularly PLAG1 gene, sheltered by the most significantly associated marker region, which in other studies were associated to weight, height and sexual precocity in Nellore breed. To evaluate carcass and meat quality traits, 576 young bulls were evaluated for hot carcass weight, ribeye area, fat thickness, pH 24 hours after slaughter and color parameters (L*, a*, b*), for shearing force, dripping and cooking loss, evaluations were performed for different maturation times (7, 14 and 21 days). Animals were genotyped on two platforms, Illumina® BovineHD BeadChip (HD) and Bovine GeneSeek® Genomic Profiler ™ HD Illumina Infinium® (GGP). Animals genotyped at a lower density (GGP) were imputed to high density chip (HD). Shear force, dripping and cooking loss measures which relates to meat tenderness, were associated to cytoskeleton structure and proteolytic enzymes activity, pointing to serine/serpin enzyme complex as main candidates for regulate proteolysis and muscle fiber structure degradation. Were performed an evaluation of Longissimus thoracis et lumborum intramuscular fat content of 148 animals. It was approached by a human health perspective where samples received a classification regarding fatty acids effects on human organism (\"beneficial\", \"evil\" or \"neutral\"), as well as provided phenotypic information for future genome association studies. The identification of 42 fatty acids and 16 indexes, generated detailed information on these animals\' meat fat composition. Principal component analysis (PCA) results showed that large variation proportion between samples fat composition occurs due to expression differences among desaturase and elongase enzymes. Thus, it is expected that generated data, information and knowledge hereby, can assist animal breeding programs to improve Brazilian herds according meat chain interests. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/02552-0 - Genome Association Study in Nellore cattle for quantitative and qualitative characteristics of carcass and meat
• Grantee: Anirene Galvão Tavares Pereira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate