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The expression levels of DNMT3a/3b and their relationship with meat quality in beef cattle

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Abstract

To identify the effects of the expression levels of DNMT3a and DNMT3b, coding the de novo methyltransferases DNMT3a and DNMT3b, on 16 beef carcass and quality traits, 50 beef cattle liver and ribeye muscle tissue samples were collected. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR was employed to quantify the expression level of these two genes, and a basic model included fixed effects of gender, age, and expression level of these two genes was used to analyze live weight; and slaughtering batches and aging days were added when beef carcass traits and beef quality traits were analyzed, respectively. Results showed that transcripts of DNMT3a and DNMT3b were present at significantly higher levels in liver tissue than in muscle tissue, and the expression level of DNMT3a was significantly higher than that of DNMT3b in both tissues. Regression analysis found that the expression levels of DNMT3a and DNMT3b were associated with several beef quality traits, which are important in beef breeding. Findings of the present study suggested that these two genes could significantly contribute to the improvement of beef quality genetically.

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Acknowledgments

Grateful acknowledgements are made to guest professor Geoff Kirton from Australia and international student Tahir Usman from Pakistan for their valuable suggestion and careful proof reading of our manuscript. This study was financially supported by the Earmarked Fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (CARS-37), Key Development of New Transgenic Breeds Programs (2009ZX08009-146B), the Fund for Basic Research from the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (2011JS006), Xuelong Biological Breeding Technology and its Industrialization Project funded by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal and Breeding, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuanmingyuan West Rd., Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Xiangyu Guo, Xuan Liu, Xu Zhang, Qiang Li, Wenjiao Liu, Yi Zhang, Yachun Wang & Ying Yu

  2. National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuanmingyuan West Rd., Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Xiangyu Guo, Xuan Liu, Xu Zhang, Qiang Li, Wenjiao Liu, Yi Zhang, Yachun Wang & Ying Yu

  3. College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuanmingyuan West Rd., Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Xiangyu Guo, Xuan Liu, Xu Zhang, Qiang Li, Wenjiao Liu, Yi Zhang, Yachun Wang & Ying Yu

  4. Dalian Xuelong Industry Limited Group, 11F, No.67 Tongxing St. Zhongshan Dist., Dalian, 116001, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China

    Xianzhou Xu & Meng Wu

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  1. Xiangyu Guo
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  2. Xuan Liu
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  3. Xianzhou Xu
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  4. Meng Wu
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  5. Xu Zhang
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  7. Wenjiao Liu
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  8. Yi Zhang
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  9. Yachun Wang
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  10. Ying Yu
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Correspondence to Yachun Wang or Ying Yu.

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Guo, X., Liu, X., Xu, X. et al. The expression levels of DNMT3a/3b and their relationship with meat quality in beef cattle. Mol Biol Rep 39, 5473–5479 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1349-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1349-2

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