Large-scale proteomic analysis of Japanese Black cattle:Part II. Assessment of gender and genetic background effects

Abstract

Identification of protein biomarkers for assessment of meat quality during fattening of Japanese black beef cattle would improve the efficiency of a livestock production system. We have already constructed an integrated database system of Japanese Black cattle, where in the data include 43 items on 10,789 cattle (consisting mainly of carcass trait, sex, bloodlines etc.), and expression data and identification of protein spots by using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, in order to determine the protein biomarkers. In this study, proteomic analysis on perirenal white adipose tissues of 252 randomly selected cattle was carried out and addressed the effects of gender and genetic background on the proteomic data. It was observed that 56 spots of proteins between steers and heifers were over- or under-represented (6.4 % of 879 spots), while only a few proteins (1.3-2.4%) were differentially expressed between two steer groups from four major sires. These results indicate that separation according to gender is necessary for selecting samples for proteome analysis but it is less necessary to classify different sire breeds.