1. Melanin content is considered an important indicator of meat quality in black-boned chickens, which have a high market value. To understand the complex physiological processes underlying muscle melanogenesis in this chicken, differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) were detected between black muscle (BM) and white muscle (WM) of chickens using high-throughput sequencing technology. Six small RNA libraries were constructed, and more than 16.75 million clean reads were obtained for each library.

2. A total of 582 known miRNAs and 65 novel miRNAs were identified from the six chicken sequence libraries. A total of 19 DEMs were identified between the two groups, of which nine were upregulated and 10 were downregulated. Furthermore, the DEMs were predicted to target 572 genes.

3. Certain DEMs (such as miR-204, miR-133b, and miR-12 229-3p) and their target genes may play an important role in muscle melanogenesis of chickens. These findings provide a foundation for clarifying the miRNA regulatory mechanisms involved in muscle pigmentation in avian species.

1.黑色素含量被认为是黑骨鸡肉品质的重要指标，具有很高的市场价值。为了了解该鸡肌肉黑色素生成的复杂生理过程，使用高通量测序技术在鸡的黑肌（BM）和白肌（WM）之间检测到差异表达的miRNA（DEM）。构建了六个小RNA文库，并且每个文库获得了超过1675万次的干净读取。

2.从六个鸡序列文库中总共鉴定出582个已知的miRNA和65个新的miRNA。两组之间总共确定了19个DEM，其中上调了9个，下调了10个。此外，DEM被预测为靶向572个基因。

3.某些DEM（例如miR-204，miR-133b和miR-12 229-3p）及其靶基因可能在鸡的肌肉黑色素生成中起重要作用。这些发现为阐明涉及禽类肌肉色素沉着的miRNA调控机制提供了基础。