Integration of ATAC-Seq, Transcriptomic, and Proteomics Reveals the Molecular Mechanism of Intramuscular Fat Deposition and Meat Tenderness Regulation in Pig Breeds

作者：Yunpeng Zhang, Jing Xu, Suthar Teerath Kumar, Yunlong Zheng, Min Li, Ziyi Zhao, Qi Zhang, Wu-Sheng Sun, Pan Li, Yuan Zhao, Shumin Zhang · 发表于：Biomolecules · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/biom15121738 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Meat and Animal Product Quality、Animal Nutrition and Physiology、Regulation of Appetite and Obesity

Pork is one of the most widely consumed meats worldwide, with tenderness and intramuscular fat (IMF) content serving as key determinants of consumer acceptance. The rising demand for high-quality pork underscores the need to better understand the molecular mechanisms regulating IMF deposition and meat tenderness. In this study, we systematically examined the tenderness and IMF in the Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle of 104 eight-month-old Songliao black pigs and Leixiang pigs raised under identical conditions. In addition, three pigs from each breed were randomly selected for multi-omics analyses, including Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq), transcriptomics, and proteomics to elucidate the molecular networks underlying IMF deposition and tenderness. We identified a total of 2635 differentially accessible chromatin (DARs) regions associated with 2006 functional genes and 351 regulatory transcription factors, predominantly enriched in adipocyte differentiation and muscle metabolism pathways. Transcriptome analysis revealed 624 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in lipid metabolism and tissue structure maintenance. While proteomic profiling detected 153 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) enriched in fatty acid degradation/metabolism, PPAR signaling, energy metabolism, and thermogenesis pathways. Further, combined integrated multi-omics analysis identified nine candidate genes (MBP, DCLK1, COL3A1, ART3, COL14A1, PDK4, VCAN, LIPE, and ...