Drip loss is an essential evaluation indicator for pork quality. It is closely related to other meat quality indicators, including water‐holding capacity, water loss rate and pH value at 45 min (pH₁) and 24 h post‐mortem (pH₂), and is influenced by environmental and genetic factors and their interactions. We previously conducted differentially expressed gene analysis to identify candidate genes affecting drip loss using eight individuals with extremely high‐ and low‐drip loss selected from 28 purebred Duroc pigs. Using 28 identical samples, in the present study, we performed weighted gene co‐expression network analysis with drip loss and drip loss‐related traits, including water‐holding capacity, water loss rate, pH₁ and pH₂. A total of 25 modules were identified, and five of them correlated with at least two drip loss or drip loss‐related traits. After functional enrichment analysis of genes in the five modules, three modules were found to be critical, as their genes were significantly involved in amino acid metabolism, immune response and apoptosis, which have potential relationships with drip loss. Furthermore, we identified five candidate genes affecting drip loss in one critical module, AASS, BCKDHB, ALDH6A1, MUT and MCCC1, as they overlapped with differentially expressed genes detected in our previous study, exhibited protein–protein interactions and had potential biological functions in affecting drip loss according to the literature. The outcomes of the present study enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying drip loss and will aid in improving the pork quality.

中文翻译：

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加权基因共表达网络分析揭示了潜在的候选基因会影响猪肉的滴水损失

滴水损失是猪肉品质的重要评估指标。它与其他肉类质量指标密切相关，包括持水量，失水率和45分钟（pH ₁）和死后24 h（pH ₂）的pH值，并且受环境和遗传因素及其影响互动。我们先前进行了差异表达基因分析，以从28头杜洛克纯种猪中选出8个具有极高和极低滴水损失的个体来鉴定影响滴水损失的候选基因。在本研究中，我们使用28个相同的样本，通过加权基因共表达网络分析，分析了滴失和与滴失相关的特征，包括持水量，失水率，pH ₁和pH ₂。总共确定了25个模块，其中五个与至少两个滴漏或与滴漏相关的特征相关。在对五个模块中的基因进行功能富集分析后，发现三个模块至关重要，因为它们的基因显着参与氨基酸代谢，免疫反应和细胞凋亡，与滴失有潜在关系。此外，我们在一个关键模块AASS，BCKDHB，ALDH6A1，MUT和MCCC1中鉴定了五个影响滴水损失的候选基因根据文献，它们与我们先前研究中检测到的差异表达基因重叠，表现出蛋白质间相互作用，并且在影响滴水损失方面具有潜在的生物学功能。本研究的结果加深​​了我们对滴水流失的分子机理的理解，并将有助于改善猪肉的品质。