Study on the Differences in Transcriptome and Metabolome of Pectoralis Major Muscles Between Jiangshan Black-Bone Chickens and Baier Buff Chickens

Jiangshan black-bone chicken is well known for its nutritional and health-promoting benefits, and the high melanin content in its muscles gives it a distinctive black appearance. Melanin possesses strong free radical scavenging ability, which may influence the antioxidant capacity and flavor characteristics of muscle tissue. Therefore, we conducted RNA sequencing and non-targeted liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolomics sequencing on the pectoralis major muscles of Jiangshan black-bone chickens and ordinary chickens (Baier buff chickens), to investigate differences in muscle metabolic regulation between two types of chickens. We detected 88 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 124 differential metabolites (DMs), identified enrichment in the “Oxidative phosphorylation”, “Glutathione metabolism”, and “Melanogenesis” pathways. As a result, genes CHAC1, GSTA2, DCT, EDNRB, TYRP1, ATP5F1EP2 and metabolites “Adenosine diphosphate (ADP)”, “Phosphate (Pi)”, “Pyrophosphate (PPi)”, “Oxidized glutathione (GSSG)”, “Spermine”, contributed to differences in antioxidant capacity between the pectoralis major muscles of Jiangshan black-bone chickens and Baier buff chickens. Our results indicated that the Jiangshan black-bone chickens could generate more adenosine diphosphate (ADP), thereby enhancing glutathione metabolism and melanin synthesis, which may facilitate the removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in muscle tissue.