Transcriptome-based analysis of early post-mortem formation of pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) pork

The goals of this study was to analyze of differences gene expression between PSE and normal pork in postmortem by transcriptome profiling ,using BGISEQ500 platform.We measured the pH of the longissimus lumborum to screen for PSE and NO (normal) carcasses (PSE: pH ≤ 6.0, normal: pH > 6.0) at postmortem using a pH metre (Testo 205, Testo, Inc., PA, USA).Our study found 97.56% of the sequencing reads had quality scores at the Q20 level (99% base calling accuracy) and 89.93% had quality scores at the Q30 level (99.9% base calling accuracy).Approximately 92.58% of the clean reads were mapped to the reference genome. There were 326 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the longissimus lumborum between normal and PSE pork, with 197 upregulated and 129 downregulated genes. Additionally, 324 DEGs were identified in the semimembranosus between normal and PSE carcasses, with 176 upregulated and 148 downregulated genes. There were 1022 DEGs between longissimus lumborum and semimembranosus in the normal carcasses, with 878 upregulated and 144 downregulated genes in the semimembranosus. Additionally, there were 1011 DEGs between longissimus lumborum and semimembranosus in PSE carcasses, with 823 upregulated and 188 downregulated genes.we compared the DEGs between longissimus lumborum and semimembranosus in PSE carcasses with those of normal carcasses and found 74 commonly downregulated and 430 commonly upregulated genes. Five genes showed the opposite expression trends, including BGI_novel_G000027, LOC110261743, BGI_novel_G000053, HSPA6, and BGI_novel_G000051. Longissimus lumborum and semimembranosus mRNA profiles in postmortem PSE and (NO) normal carcasses