The GENOTEND chip: a new tool to analyse gene expression in muscles of beef cattle for beef quality prediction

BMC Veterinary Research

Table 5 Validation in the different animal groups of the five sets of probes belonging to the heat shock protein family to predict variability in tenderness

			Initial tenderness		Overall tenderness
Animal group	Number of animals		R²	P value	R²	P value
Young bulls slaughtered year 1	25	HSP gene expression levels	0.39	0.07	0.44	*0.04*
		Biochemical traits	0.08	0.75	0.08	0.78
Steers slaughtered year 1	21	HSP gene expression levels	0.45	0.08	0.49	*0.05*
		Biochemical traits	0.42	0.06	0.41	0.06
Young bulls slaughtered year 2	30	HSP gene expression levels	0.37	*0.04*	0.40	*0.03*
		Biochemical traits	0.04	0.88	0.08	0.69
Steers slaughtered year 2	19	HSP gene expression levels	0.20	0.68	0.23	0.58
		Biochemical traits	0.19	0.52	0.21	0.49

Multiple regression analyses were performed with the combination of the 5 groups of probes (DNAJA1 HspH1, HspA8, plus two groups of probes for HspB1-Hsp27) to predict beef initial or overall tenderness for young bulls or steers slaughtered year 1 or year 2. Multiple regression analyses were also performed with the combination of four muscle biochemical traits (Intramuscular fat content, mean fiber area, total collagen content and collagen solubility) previously shown [38] to be associated with beef quality. The proportion of the variability in tenderness which is explained by the combination of the 5 groups of probes is indicated (R²) as well as the associated P value.

ISSN: 1746-6148