Differential expression of genes related of meat tenderness in Nellore cattle

Abstract

Brazil is the second largest exporter of beef in the world, however, more than 80% of the meat is zebu, and needs improvement in organoleptic characteristics as color, flavor, juiciness and especially tenderness. The tenderness can be measured by sensory analysis or by measuring the shear force. This method use an apparatus who measure the force required to shear a cross section of meat and the higher the strength dispensed, lower is the tenderness showed by the cut of meat. However, these methods can only be performed after the animal was killed, and using transcriptome analysis techniques, as RNAseq, is an alternative to evaluate this feature early. Thus, the objective of this work is to identify differentially expressed genes using the technique of next generation sequencing, RNAseq, in Nellore cattle in order to produce higher quality meat. For this, will be sequenced RNA samples extracted from Longissimus dorsi muscle collected from 42 animals divided in two groups for extreme shear force and then will be analysis of differential gene expression between the two groups. Later, five differentially expressed genes will be selected and validation of expression will be performed by qRT-PCR technique. (AU)