Variants in myostatin and MyoD family genes are associated with meat quality traits in Santa Ines sheep

Myostatin and MyoD family genes play vital roles in myogenesis and this study aimed to identify association of variants inMyoD1,MyoG,MyF5,MyF6, andMSTNgenes with meat traits in Santa Ines sheep. A dataset with 44 variants and records of seven meat traits in 192 lambs (pH0, pH24, a*, b*, L*, tenderness assessed by shear force, and water-holding capacity) was used. Single-locus and haplotype association analyses were performed, and the significance threshold was established according to Bonferroni's method. Single-locus analysis revealed two associations at a Bonferroni level, where the variantc.935-185C > GinMyoD1had an additive effect (-4.31 +/- 1.08 N) on tenderness, while the variantc.464 + 185G > AinMyoGhad an additive effect (-2.86 +/- 0.64) on a*. Additionally, the haplotype replacementGT>ACinMSTNwas associated with pH0 (1.26 +/- 0.31), pH24 (1.07 +/- 0.27), a* (-1.40 +/- 0.51), and tenderness (3.83 +/- 1.22 N), while the replacementGT > AGinMyoD1was associated with pH0 (1.43 +/- 0.26), pH24 (1.25 +/- 0.22), b* (-1.06 +/- 0.39), and tenderness (-4.13 +/- 1.16 N). Our results have demonstrated that some variants inMyoG,MyF6,MyoD1, andMSTNcan be associated with physicochemical meat traits in Santa Ines sheep.