The effect of single-nucleotide polymorphisms within heat shock protein beta 1 on beef quantity in Korean native steers

Heat shock protein beta 1 (HSPB1), a member of the heat-shock family of protein, is a relatively small (27 kDa) molecular chaperone protein associated with cellular development. The relationship between HSPB1 expression and muscle growth in beef cattle has previously been reported, but there have been no reports of DNA markers related to meat quantity in Korean native steers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within HSPB1 in terms of the carcass traits related to muscle growth in Korean native steers. Through direct sequencing, we discovered three SNPs: g.111 T > C SNP (rs208395876) and g.2548 C > G SNP (rs483014585) were respectively located in 5 [Formula: see text] UTR (untranslated region) and 3 [Formula: see text] UTR. Further, g.2352 T > C SNP (rs110832311) was located in the adjacent region of the RNA splicing site. The least square means of steers with a CC genotype of g.111 T > C SNP had a significantly higher meat ratio ([Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0.04), while the least square means of steers with a CC genotype of g.2352 T > C SNP had a significantly higher meat ratio ([Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0.002) and lower back-fat thickness ([Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0.004) than those of the other genotype. Moreover, although the least square means of steers with CC-CC, CT-CC, and TT-CC genotypes were significantly decreased for back-fat thickness, they were significantly increased for the meat ratio. Therefore, our results suggested that g.111 T > C SNP and g.2352 T > C SNP could be a causal mutation related to an adipose metabolism in Korean cattle steer.