Investigation on the Effect of Two Fat Metabolism Related Pathways on Intramuscular Fat Content in Pigs

Intramuscular fat (IMF) content has become an important determinant of meat quality for raisers and consumers in modern society. The objective of this work was to investigate the roles of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) and fatty acid metabolism signaling pathways in determining the IMF contentin the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle of pigs. The expression profile of candidate genes involved in the PPAR and fatty acid metabolism signaling pathways were detected in the LD muscle of two pig breeds with different IMF contents (Large White and Min) by a quantitative real-time reversetranscription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) array. Our results showed that three lipid metabolismrelated biological processes lipogenesis, fatty acid transport and fatty acid oxidation in these two pathways showed significant differences in activation between Large White and Min pigs. The activation of the PPAR and fatty acid metabolism signaling pathways may play a positive role in reducing IMF content in pigs.