Association of bovine meat quality traits with genes included in the PPARG and PPARGC1A networks N. Sevane a , E. Armstrong b , O. Cortés a , P. Wiener c , R. Pong Wong c , S. Dunner a, ⁎, and the GemQual Consortium a Dpto. de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain b Dpto. Genética y Mejora Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, UdelaR., Uruguay c The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PS, Scotland, UK abstract article info Article history: Received 13 July 2012 Received in revised form 8 February 2013 Accepted 19 February 2013 Keywords: Candidate genes Meat quality SNP Bos Understanding which are the genetic variants underlying the nutritional and sensory properties of beef, enables improvement in meat quality. The aim of this study is to identify new molecular markers for meat quality through an association study using candidate genes included in the PPARG and PPARGC1A networks given their master role in coordinating metabolic adaptation in fat tissue, muscle and liver. Amongst the novel associations found in this study, selection of the positive marker variants of genes such as BCL3, LPL, PPARG, SCAP, and SCD will improve meat organoleptic characteristics and health by balancing the n-6 to n-3 fatty acid ratio in meat. Also previous results on GDF8 and DGAT1 were validated, and the novel ATF4, HNF4A and PPARGC1A associations, al- though slightly under the significance threshold, are consistent with their physiological roles. These data contrib- ute insights into the complex gene-networks underlying economically important traits. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Many economically important traits in cattle production, such as those related to meat quality, defined by the nutritional and sensory properties of beef, are very complex, involve many genes and are greatly influenced by a variety of environmental factors (Hocquette et al., 2012). Being difficult and expensive to measure (Simm, Lambe, Bünger, Navajas, & Roehe, 2009), they are not usually included in selection programs based on phenotypic performance. However, the identification of molec- ular markers linked to economically important traits has evolved sub- stantially in the last years and provides an alternative way to evaluate the genetic merit of livestock (Hocquette et al., 2010). Genomic Selection (GS) strategies focus on the incorporation of molecular information in breeding programs in order to directly select the beneficial genetic vari- ants underlying those complex traits (Pimentel & König, 2012). However, GS will not likely be extended in the short term to beef cattle populations due to small population sizes and lack of high accuracy of estimated breeding values, so a candidate gene approach is currently useful to extend the panel of associated SNP and estimate better SNP effects in these breeds. Apart from meat quality aspects such as tenderness, flavour, juic- iness or colour, health concerns are of particular interest given the re- lationship found between incidence of lifestyle diseases and dietary intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and the ratio of n -6 to n -3 fatty acids, currently far from the recommended 1–4:1 (Scollan et al., 2006). Understanding the genetic variation underlying economi- cally important traits will enable us to improve production efficiency and meat quality. For this purpose, we performed an association study between 26 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) located in 20 candidate genes and different production traits measured in 314 muscle samples of individuals belonging to 11 European bovine breeds. Amongst the genes associated so far with production traits, we focussed on those related to energetic metabolism and specifically several genes linked to the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ (PPARG) and its coactivator the peroxysome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PPARGC1A) networks, given their key role in coordinating metabolic adaptation in fat tissue, muscle and liver (Fig. 1). 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Animals A total of 314 muscle samples from unrelated bulls belonging to 11 European cattle breeds and fed from weaning to adult weight on a sim- ilar diet were genotyped (Albertí et al., 2008). The panel of animals consisted of one highly selected dairy breed (n = 26 Holstein); eight Meat Science 94 (2013) 328–335 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Av. Puerta de Hierro, s/n, Dpto. Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain. Tel.: +34 91 394 3765; fax: +34 91 394 3772. E-mail address: dunner@vet.ucm.es (S. Dunner). 0309-1740/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2013.02.014 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Meat Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/meatsci