Study of genes related to meat quality in Cinta Senese pig breed

Cinta Senese is an autochthonous Tuscan pig breed, accounting for about 3,000 individuals characterized by good meat and fat quality. Several genes affect directly or are associated with meat quality traits and the causative mutations were identified in commercial pig breeds. This study investigated allele frequencies at some of these loci in Cinta Senese breed. DNA samples were analyzed by PCR-RFLPs at the following loci: ryanodine receptor 1 (RYR1) influencing mainly pH1 and responsible for the PSE defect in meat; calpastatin (CAST) affecting meat tenderness; protein kinase, AMP-activated, gamma 3 non-catalytic subunit (PRKAG3 or Rendement Napole locus) influencing muscle glycogen content, pHu and responsible for the defect known as acid meat; heart fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) related to intramuscular fat content and melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) associated with backfat thickness. The results for the RYR1 locus showed that the favourable allele (1843C) is almost fixed (0.98). All Cinta Senese animals were homozygous for the R200 allele of the PRKAG3 gene confirming the absence of the acid meat defect in the breed. Considering the low frequency of the 1843T allele for the RYR1 locus it will be feasible the eradication of the defective allele.