Comparison of enzyme activities and gene expression profiling between yak and bovine skeletal muscles

The objective of the present study was to reveal the differences between yak (Bos grunniens) and cattle in energy metabolic characteristics and gene expressions in skeletal muscles. Activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (HOAD), which are involved in metabolism of carbohydrate and fatty acid respectively, were measured in longissimus dorsi and biceps femoris. Yak contained higher total LDH activity and higher proportion of LDH5 in longissimus dorsi than cattle (P < 0.05), indicating its more anaerobic potential characteristics in carbohydrate metabolism. However, yak contained higher activities of MDH and HOAD (P < 0.05) in biceps femoris than cattle, exhibiting high oxidative capacity under hypoxic environment. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of mRNA abundance showed that yak and cattle contained a similar level of adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP) in both longissimus dorsi and biceps femoris, while myosin heavy chain I (MyHC I) in longissimus dorsi and biceps femoris, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) level in biceps femoris were significant lower in yak compared with cattle (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05 respectively), indicating the anaerobic characteristic of yak skeletal muscles. In conclusion, our experiment showed that yak skeletal muscles exhibit different energy metabolic property and gene expressions compared to cattle.