AUTHOR=Yu Baojun , Cai Zhengyun , Liu Jiamin , Zhao Wei , Fu Xi , Gu Yaling , Zhang Juan 

TITLE=Transcriptome and co-expression network analysis reveals the molecular mechanism of inosine monophosphate-specific deposition in chicken muscle

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2023.1199311

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2023.1199311

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>The inosine monophosphate (IMP) content in chicken meat is closely related to muscle quality and is an important factor affecting meat flavor. However, the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the IMP-specific deposition in muscle remain unclear. This study performed transcriptome analysis of muscle tissues from different parts, feeding methods, sexes, and breeds of 180-day-old Jingyuan chickens, combined with differential expression and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), to identify the functional genes that regulate IMP deposition. Out of the four comparison groups, 1,775, 409, 102, and 60 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, of which <italic>PDHA2</italic>, <italic>ACSS2</italic>, <italic>PGAM1</italic>, <italic>GAPDH</italic>, <italic>PGM1</italic>, <italic>GPI</italic>, and <italic>TPI1</italic> may be involved in the anabolic process of muscle IMP in the form of energy metabolism or amino acid metabolism. WGCNA identified 11 biofunctional modules associated with IMP deposition. The brown, midnight blue, red, and yellow modules were strongly correlated with IMP and cooking loss (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). Functional enrichment analysis showed that glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, arginine and proline metabolism, and pyruvate metabolism, regulated by <italic>PYCR1</italic>, <italic>SMOX</italic>, and <italic>ACSS2</italic>, were necessary for muscle IMP-specific deposition. In addition, combined analyses of DEGs and four WGCNA modules identified <italic>TGIF1</italic> and <italic>THBS1</italic> as potential candidate genes affecting IMP deposition in muscle. This study explored the functional genes that regulate muscle development and IMP synthesis from multiple perspectives, providing an important theoretical basis for improving the meat quality and molecular breeding of Jingyuan chickens.</p>