Detection of differentially expressed genes in the longissimus dorsi of Northeastern Indigenous and Large White pigs.

Recent attention in pig breeding programs has focused on the improvement of pork quality in response to increasing consumer demands. Compared to the fatty-type Northeastern Indigenous (Chinese) breed of pigs, the lean-type Large White has lower intramuscular fat and inferior eating quality from the perspective of the Chinese consumer. In order to investigate the molecular basis of differences in pork quality in Chinese indigenous and Western breeds, longissimus dorsi samples were collected from three adult Northeastern Indigenous and three adult Large White pigs. The RNAs were extracted and hybridized to the porcine Affymetrix GeneChip. Microarray analysis demonstrated differential expression of 1134 genes of which 401 have a known