Transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal improved performance of Hu sheep on hybridization with Southdown sheep

• Published in: Food research international 2023-11, Vol.173, p.113240-113240, Article 113240
• Main Authors: Kong, Lingying, Yue, Yaojing, Li, Jianye, Yang, Bohui, Chen, Bowen, Liu, Jianbin, Lu, Zengkui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cross breeding; Longissimus dorsi quality; Metabolomics; Muscle development; Slaughter performance; Transcriptomics
• ISSN: 0963-9969; 1873-7145
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2023.113240

[Display omitted] •Southdown × Hu F1 sheep performance improved.•Key genes METTL21C, PPARGC1A and WFIKKN2 were screened.•METTL21C had a significant positive correlation with carnosine.•Amino acid metabolism comprehensively regulates Southdown × Hu F1 mutton quality. Consumers are increasingly demanding high-quality mutton. Cross breeding can improve meat quality and is widely used in sheep breeding. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of cross breeding sheep meat quality. In this study, male Southdown and female Hu sheep were hybridized. The slaughter performance and longissimus dorsi quality of the 6-month-old hybrid offspring were measured, and the longissimus dorsi of the hybrid offspring was analyzed by transcriptomics and metabolomics to explore the effect of cross breeding on meat quality. The results showed that the production performance of Southdown × Hu F1 sheep was significantly improved, the carcass fat content was significantly decreased, and the eating quality of Southdown × Hu F1 sheep were better. Compared with the HS group (Hu × Hu), the NH group (Southdown × Hu) had 538 differentially expressed genes and 166 differentially expressed metabolites (P  0.6 and P