Integrated Transcriptome and Metabolome Analysis Reveals Candidate Genes and Regulatory Pathways Shaping Duck Meat Color

Shuaixue Jiang, Zhao Yang, Yinjuan Lu, Tao Zhang, Mengru Xu, Xu Han, Qiuyu Tao, Yuan Bai, Xinxin He, Bo Han, Junsheng Zhu, Liang Li, Anqi Huang, Lili Bai, Jiwei Hu and Hehe Liu ()
Additional contact information
Shuaixue Jiang: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Zhao Yang: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Yinjuan Lu: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Tao Zhang: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Mengru Xu: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Xu Han: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Qiuyu Tao: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Yuan Bai: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Xinxin He: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Bo Han: Henan Xurui Food Company, Jiaozuo 454991, China
Junsheng Zhu: Henan Xurui Food Company, Jiaozuo 454991, China
Liang Li: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Anqi Huang: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Lili Bai: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Jiwei Hu: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China
Hehe Liu: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 613000, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: Meat color is the most intuitive measure of meat quality and has a significant impact on consumer preference. To explore the molecular mechanisms affecting duck pectoralis meat color, the phenotypic traits of Cherry Valley duck (CV, eight males and eight females) and Huai Fu duck (HF, eight males and eight females) were compared; three males and three females of each variety were later selected for transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses to reveal key molecular processes. This study found that the expression level of CA3 (carbonic anhydride enzyme 3) is positively correlated with the meat color phenotype, suggesting that it may play a positive regulatory role in the formation of meat color. The expression trend of the ST13 gene is opposite to the phenotype, suggesting that it may play a negative regulatory role. With the participation of CA3 and NDUF family genes (such as NDUFC2, NDUFB2 , etc.), the oxidative phosphorylation pathway plays a key role in meat color formation by regulating the oxygenation/deoxygenation state of myoglobin and intracellular pH value. Although the effects of these genes and pathways on meat color have been discovered, their specific genetic mechanisms and molecular functions still need further verification. This provides important clues for further understanding the molecular mechanism of meat color formation and may offer potential molecular targets for improving meat color or breeding new varieties.

Keywords: meat color; transcriptomics; metabolomics; ducks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/10/1059/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/10/1059/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:10:p:1059-:d:1655586

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().