Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is the third most important crop in the family of Solanaceae. Prickles are considered as the undesirable traits during the plantation of eggplant and the transportation of fruits. In this study, we constructed a high-quality genetic linkage Bin map derived from the re-sequencing analysis on a cross of a prickly wild landrace, 17C01, and a cultivated variety, 17C02. The major quantitative trait locus (QTL) controlling the development of prickles on the calyx (explained 30.42% of the phenotypic variation), named as qPC.12, was identified on a ~7 kb region on chromosome 12. A gene within qPC.12, which encodes a WUSCHEL-related homeobox-like protein, with higher expression levels in 17C01 calyx and 22-bp deletion in 17C02 was probably the functional gene for prickle formation. Results from this study would ultimately facilitate uncovering the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the development of a prickle in eggplant.

Objective: Tibetan pigs, predominantly originating from the Tibetan Plateau, have been subjected to long-term natural selection in an extreme environment. To characterize the metabolic adaptations to hypoxic conditions, transcriptomic and proteomic expression patterns in the livers of Tibetan and Yorkshire pigs were compared. Methods: RNA and protein were extracted from liver tissue of Tibetan and Yorkshire pigs (n = 3, each). Differentially expressed genes and proteins were subjected to Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes functional enrichment analyses. Results: In the RNA-Seq and iTRAQ (Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation) analyses, a total of 18,791 genes and 3390 proteins were detected and compared. Of these, 273 and 257 differentially expressed genes and proteins were identified. Evidence from functional enrichment analysis showed that many genes were involved in metabolic processes. The combined transcriptomic and proteomic analyses revealed that small molecular biosynthesis, metabolic processes, and organic hydroxyl compound metabolic processes were the major processes operating differently in the two breeds. The important genes include RDH16,

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The gut microbiota is involved in a range of physiological processes in animals, and modulating the microbiome composition is considered a novel target for identifying animal traits. Tibetan pigs show better fat deposition and disease resistance compared to Yorkshire pigs. However, studies investigating the correlation between favorable characteristics in Tibetan pigs and the gut microbial community remain scarce. In the current study, 1,249,822 high-quality sequences were obtained by amplicon sequencing of the colon contents of Tibetan and Yorkshire pigs. We found that at the boundary level, the abundance and relative abundance of colon bacterial community in Tibetan pigs were higher than that in Yorkshire pigs (P > 0.05). Phylum level, Firmicutes were the dominant colonic microflora of Tibetan and Yorkshire pigs, and the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroides in Tibetan pigs was slightly higher than in Yorkshire pigs. Actinobacteria and Spirobacteria were significantly higher in Tibetan pigs than in Yorkshire pigs (P < 0.05). At the genus level, the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Bacteriologist, which are related to disease resistance, was significantly higher than that in Yorkshire pigs in Yorkshire pigs. In conclusion, the composition and abundance of colonic intestinal microflora in Tibetan pigs were closely related to their superior traits. Bifidobacteria, Ruminococcaceae, and Family-XIII-AD3011-Group are conducive to improving disease resistance in Tibetan pigs. Lactobacillus and Solobacterium were observed to be the main bacterial communities involved in fat deposition in Tibetan pigs. This study will provide a new reference for the development and utilization of Tibetan pigs in future.

Fat deposition traits are one of the key factors in pig production and breeding. The fat deposition capacity of pigs mainly affects the quality of pork and pig productivity. The aim of this study was to analyze the differential expression of mRNA levels in dorsal adipose tissue of Tibetan and York pigs at different growth stages using transcriptomic data to estimate key genes that regulate fat deposition in pigs. The results showed that a total of 32,747 positively expressed genes were present in the dorsal adipose tissue of the two breeds. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) screening of multiple combinations between the two breeds yielded 324 DEGS. Gene ontology (GO) biofunctional enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses showed that these DEGS were mainly involved in lipid metabolic pathways, steroid biosynthetic pathways and lipid biosynthetic processes, sterol biosynthetic processes, brown adipocyte differentiation, and other pathways related to lipid deposition and metabolism. The results showed that ACACA, SLC2A4 and THRSP genes positively regulated the lipid deposition ability and CHPT1 gene negatively regulated the lipid deposition ability in pigs. The results of this experiment suggest a theoretical basis for further studies on the regulatory mechanisms of fat deposition in pigs.