The Expression of MMP2,3,13 Genes in Skeletal Muscle Tissues and Its Relationship with Meat Quality in Cattle

Water holding capacity, shearing force and cooking loss were the main meat quality traits, which affected greatly by the component and construction of extracellular matrix around muscle fiber.Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) regulated the remodelling of extracellular matrix in vivo.The expression of MMP2,3,13 were analyzed by qRT-PCR during the development of longissimus dorsi muscle and results showed that MMP2 and MMP3 had significant lower expression levels at 18 month old (P0.05), while the MMP13 had no significant change. Twenty-four longissimus dorsi muscle samples of F1 hybrid progeny of Nanyang cattle Charolais cattle were collected to test the water holding capacity, shearing force, cooking loss and intramuscular fat content at two years old. The expression of MMP2 had significant negative correlation relationship with shearing force (r=-0.542 0,P0.01), and the expression of MMP13 had significant negative correlation relationship with water holding capacity (r=-0.489 1,P0.05). This study indicated the MMPs could affect the meat quality by regulation the remodelling of extracellular matrix.