Underlying mechanisms of phosphodiesterase 10A and glutamate-ammonia ligase genes that regulate inosine monophosphate deposition and thereby affect muscle tenderness in Jingyuan chickens.

Objective Inosine monophosphate (IMP) is a key factor that imparts of meat flavor. Differences in the IMP content in the muscles were evaluated to improve chicken meat quality. Methods For this study, the IMP content was detected by high performance liquid chromatography. The gene expression profiles of Jingyuan chickens with different feeding patterns and different sexes were analyzed by RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq). Results Breast muscle IMP content in free-range chickens was extremely significantly higher than that of caged chickens (p < 0.01). Breast muscle IMP content in hens was also higher than that of cocks, but the difference was not significant. Correlation analysis showed that the breast muscle IMP content in caged hens and cocks was negatively correlated with the shear force, and the breast muscle IMP content in free-range hens was significantly negatively correlated with the shear force (p < 0.05). The two key genes associated with IMP synthesis in chickens with different feeding patterns were glutamate-ammonia ligase (GLUL) and phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A). Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the GLUL and PDE10A genes are involved in glutamine biosynthesis and purine salvage pathways respectively. In addition, GLUL expression was positively correlated with the IMP content in caged and free-range chickens, and PDE10A expression was significantly positively correlated with the IMP content in caged and free-range chickens (p < 0.05). Conclusion These findings will facilitate the comprehension of the deposition of IMP in the muscles and thereby aid the process of selection and breeding of good quality local chickens.