Association of functional sequence variants of the myosin heavy chain 3 gene with muscle collagen content in pigs.

This study examined the association between functional sequence variants (FSVs) of myosin heavy chain 3 ( MYH3 ) genotypes and collagen content in a Landrace and Jeju native pig (JNP) crossbred population. Four muscles ( Musculus longissimus dorsi , Musculus semimembranosus , Musculus triceps brachii , and Musculus biceps femoris ) were used for the analysis of meat collagen content, and the same animals were genotyped for the FSVs of the MYH3 gene by using PCR-RFLP (polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism). Three FSVs of MYH3 genotypes were identified and had genotype frequencies of 0.358, 0.551, and 0.091 for QQ , Qq , and qq , respectively. QQ animals for the FSVs of the MYH3 genotypes showed higher collagen content in their M . longissimus dorsi ( p < 0.001), M. semimembranosus ( p < 0.001), M. triceps brachii ( p < 0.001), and M. biceps femoris ( p < 0.001) than qq homozygous animals. After the validation of this result in other independent populations, the FSVs of MYH3 genotypes can be a valuable genetic marker for improving collagen content in porcine muscles and can also be applied to increase the amount of collagen for biomedical purposes.