A novel single nucleotide polymorphism of the POU1F1 gene associated with meat quality traits in rabbits

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of the POU1F1 gene on meat quality traits in the Hyla, Champagne, and Tianfu Black rabbit breeds. We detected one single nucleotide polymorphism and the SNP was located at 536 bp in intron 5 of this gene. Chi-square tests showed that the genotypic frequencies in the three rabbit populations were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The PIC values indicated that the three populations had intermediate levels of genetic diversity. Rabbits with the CC genotype had a significantly greater pH0h than those with the CT genotype in the biceps femoris muscle. The least squares means for cooking loss in CT and CC rabbits were significantly higher than those for TT rabbits. Rabbits with the CC genotype had a significantly higher intramuscular fat content in the longissimus dorsi and biceps femoris muscles than those with genotype TT and CT. Thus, the results here indicate that this POU1F1 SNP may be of potential use in marker assisted selection for meat quality traits in rabbits.