Genome-wide methylation changes are associated with muscle fiber density and drip loss in male three-yellow chickens.

In eukaryotes, DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification involved in gene expression regulation. Meat quality traits are complicated traits that are controlled by many genes. Changes in the methylation levels of certain genes controlling meat quality traits will inevitably affect their expression levels, thereby affecting meat quality. The objectives of this study were to investigate the differences in the DNA methylation level in pectoral muscle tissues using fluorescent-labeled methylation sensitive amplified polymorphism and their relationships with meat quality traits in three-yellow chickens. The results showed that the differences in the DNA methylation level had a highly significant effect on muscle fiber density and drip loss (P<0.01). However, no significant correlations were found between the DNA methylation levels and the other investigated traits (P>0.05).