Identification of novel markers of beef sensory quality and muscle growth potential

The transcriptome of bovine Longissimus thoracis muscles from 15- and 19-month-old Charolais young bulls were analyzed in order to identify genes whose expression level was associated to beef quality scores, in particular to tenderness, juiciness and flavor, and to muscle growth potential. The expression of over 5000 genes was compared between high and low meat quality samples according to the three sensory traits, taken individually, and between animals with either a high or a low muscle growth potential. Keywords: meat sensory quality, growth potential Twenty-five samples were analyzed. Each sample was hybridized on 4 independent microarrays and compared to a reference pool.