Effects of genetic variants for the bovine calpain gene on meat tenderness

The objective of this study was to determine whether the genetic variants of CAPN1 developed in several cattle populations can be applied for Hanwoo, regarding genetic effects on meat traits. The traits were examined for 286 purebred Hanwoo steers with genotypes classified by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. The nucleotide positions of primers and previously identified genetic variants were based on sequences of the calpain 1 (CAPN1) gene with GenBank accession numbers (AF252504, AF248054, and AY639597). The analysis of genetic distribution estimated levels of minor allele frequencies ranged from 0.165 to 0.392, showing no significant departures from Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium for all markers. Overall averages of heterozygosites (He) and polymorphic information contents (PICs) for all markers were calculated to 0.503 and 0.429, respectively, and the g.4558G>A marker showed the lowest He (0.425) and PIC (0.367). Animals from 29 months of age were slaughtered to measure Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF), cooking loss, water-holding capacity, pH, fat, and moisture. All the CAPN1 markers explained variations of WBSF, showing significant additive effects except g.5709G>A. A significant marginal mean difference in genotypes of g.6545C>T (P = 0.046) was found in moisture with additive effects. From the result it may be possible to use three calpain markers (g.4558G>A, g.4685C>T, and g.6545C>T) classified by RFLP and SSCP analysis in marker assisted selection programs to improve WBSF as meat tenderness in Hanwoo.