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. 2023 Jul 17;14(7):1457.
doi: 10.3390/genes14071457.

Molecular Regulation of Differential Lipid Molecule Accumulation in the Intramuscular Fat and Abdominal Fat of Chickens

Jingjing Li  1 , Qinke Huang  2 , Chaowu Yang  3 , Chunlin Yu  3 , Zengrong Zhang  3 , Meiying Chen  1 , Peng Ren  1 , Mohan Qiu  3
Affiliations

Molecular Regulation of Differential Lipid Molecule Accumulation in the Intramuscular Fat and Abdominal Fat of Chickens

Jingjing Li et al. Genes (Basel). .

Abstract

Reducing abdominal fat (AF) accumulation and increasing the level of intramuscular fat (IMF) simultaneously is a major breeding goal in the poultry industry. To explore the different molecular mechanisms underlying AF and IMF, gene expression profiles in the breast muscle (BM) and AF from three chicken breeds were analyzed. A total of 4737 shared DEGs were identified between BM and AF, of which 2602 DEGs were upregulated and 2135 DEGs were downregulated in the BM groups compared with the AF groups. DEGs involved in glycerophospholipid metabolism and glycerolipid metabolism were potential regulators, resulting in the difference in lipid metabolite accumulation between IMF and AF. The PPAR signaling pathway was the most important pathway involved in tissue-specific lipid deposition. Correlation analysis showed that most representative DEGs enriched in the PPAR signaling pathway, such as FABP5, PPARG, ACOX1, and GK2, were negatively correlated with PUFA-enriched glycerophospholipid molecules. Most DEGs related to glycerophospholipid metabolism, such as GPD2, GPD1, PEMT, CRLS1, and GBGT1, were positively correlated with glycerophospholipid molecules, especially DHA- and arachidonic acid (ARA)-containing glycerophospholipid molecules. This study elucidated the molecular mechanism underlying tissue-specific lipid deposition and poultry meat quality.

Keywords: abdominal fat; chicken; glycerophospholipid; integration analysis; intramuscular fat.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A–C) Volcano plot showing DEGs in GYBM vs. GYAF, JYBM vs. JYAF, TCBM vs. TCAF. Red dots represent significantly up-regulated genes and green dots represent significantly down-regulated genes. (D) Venn diagrams showing differentially expressed genes in the BM and AF of Guangyuan grey chickens, Jiuyuan black chickens, and Tibetan chickens.
Figure 2
Figure 2
KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the DEGs between BM and AF in Guangyuan grey chickens (A), Jiuyuan black chickens (B), and Tibetan chickens (C). (D) PPAR signaling pathway plot. The node color indicates the expression of genes: (red) up-regulated and (green) down-regulated in the BM groups relative to the AF groups. GeneRatio: the ratio of the number of differential genes annotated to the KEGG pathway number to the total number of differential genes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the DEGs between BM and AF in Guangyuan grey chickens (A), Jiuyuan black chickens (B), and Tibetan chickens (C). (D) PPAR signaling pathway plot. The node color indicates the expression of genes: (red) up-regulated and (green) down-regulated in the BM groups relative to the AF groups. GeneRatio: the ratio of the number of differential genes annotated to the KEGG pathway number to the total number of differential genes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Results of the qRT-PCR validation in (A) GYBM vs. GYAF (B) JYBM vs. JYAF and (C) TCBM vs. TCAF.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Integration analysis of lipidomics and transcriptome profiles for (A) GYBM vs. GYAF, (B) JYBM vs. JYAF, and (C) TCBM vs. TCAF. Each row represents a gene, and each line represents a lipid molecule. * p < 0.01.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Integration analysis of lipidomics and transcriptome profiles for (A) GYBM vs. GYAF, (B) JYBM vs. JYAF, and (C) TCBM vs. TCAF. Each row represents a gene, and each line represents a lipid molecule. * p < 0.01.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Integration analysis of lipidomics and transcriptome profiles for (A) GYBM vs. GYAF, (B) JYBM vs. JYAF, and (C) TCBM vs. TCAF. Each row represents a gene, and each line represents a lipid molecule. * p < 0.01.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Significant shared correlations between important PUFA-enriched glycerophospholipid molecules and genes among the three chicken breeds. * p < 0.01. The y-axis is the gene id.
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Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Plan (Grant No. 2022YFD1601608), the Natural Science Foundation of Southwest University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 22zx7151), the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (Grant No. 2023NSFSC1147), the Open Fund of Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province (Grant No. CNDK-2020-01), the Sichuan Science and Technology Program, the National modern agricultural technology system construction of China (Grant No. CARS-41-G04), and the Key Technology Support Program of Sichuan Province (Grant No. 2021YFYZ0031).