The cardiomyopathy associated 5 gene (CMYA5) was detected by PCR–RFLP, and the effect of the gene on meat quality traits in Hunan black pig was observed by variance analysis. The results showed that three genotypes, namely AA, AC and CC were found. The frequencies of alleles A and C were 0.287 5 and 0.712 5 respectively and the polymorphism information content and heterozygosity were 0.599 9 and 0.409 7 respectively, which revealed a moderate polymorphism in this site. There were significant differences in thirteen indexes mainly including intramuscular fat (IMF), serine acid, saturated fatty acid, (P<0.05 or P<0.01). In pigs with AA genotype, the content of IMF was significantly higher than that in pigs with AC genotype (P<0.05) and the content of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) was significantly higher than that in the pigs with AA and AC genotypes (P<0.01). The content of flavour amino acid in AC genotype was higher than that in the other two genotypes, with the contents of serine acid, arginine, proline, cystine and methionine significantly higher than those in the AA genotype (P<0.05 or P<0.01). These results provide the evidence that the porcine CMYA5 gene can act as a candidate gene of meat quality.