Characterization of key metabolites and genes affecting the quality of chicken meat in Chinese Ningdu yellow chicken

To identify meat quality regulators in Ningdu yellow chickens, we selected pH value 15min postmortem (pH15min) as a key determinant and employed untargeted LC-MS/MS metabolomics and transcriptomics to analyze two groups with significant pH15min differences (P < 0.05). We identified 129 significantly differential metabolites (SDMs) and 101 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including metabolites (butyrylcarnitine, hydroxytetradecadienyl-L-carnitine, tryptophyl-asparagine) and genes (RHOV, DLG5, KCNQ4, MYO6, PVALB). Enrichment analysis revealed predominant associations with lipid metabolism, amino acid derivatives, and ATP-consuming processes. Integration analysis revealed 307 significant SDM-DEG pairs (P< 0.01 & |r| > 0.6), with core genes (MB, CYBB, MYH10, B3GAT1L, GSTA4, PLIN1, STK32A) regulating meat quality. This study provides fundamental insights into the biological basis of meat quality and facilitates genetic marker discovery in Ningdu yellow chickens.