Mao Haiguang, Yin Zhaozheng, Wang Mengting, Zhang Wenwen, Raza Sayed Haidar Abbas, Althobaiti Fayez, Qi Lili, Wang Jinbo
School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Ningbo Tech University, Ningbo, China.
College of Animal Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Front Vet Sci. 2022 May 31;9:847363. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.847363. eCollection 2022.
Diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) catalyzes the final step in triglyceride synthesis and plays an important role in the synthesis of fat, but the effects of its expression on intramuscular fat (IMF) content and muscle development are still unknown. In this study, we investigated the expression of the gene and its associations with IMF content and breast muscle fiber characteristics in pigeons. The spatiotemporal expression profile of the pigeon gene in breast muscle showed that the mRNA expression level of gene in subcutaneous fat was the highest ( < 0.01) among eight tissues from 0 to 4 weeks of age, and showed an upward trend week by week, followed by liver ( < 0.05). Moreover, both mRNA and protein levels of the gene in breast muscle showed an upward trend from 0 to 4 weeks ( < 0.05), accompanied by the upregulation of and . In addition, the paraffin section analysis results revealed that the diameter and cross-sectional area of pectoralis muscle fiber significantly increased with age ( < 0.05), and a significant positive correlation was shown between the gene expression level and muscle fiber diameter ( < 0.05). Furthermore, correlation analysis suggested that the mRNA expression level of the pigeon gene was significantly ( < 0.01) correlated with IMF content in breast muscle. These results imply that the gene has a close relationship with IMF content and breast muscle fiber characteristics in pigeons, indicating that the DGAT2 gene might be used as a candidate gene marker-assisted breeding in pigeons.
二酰甘油酰基转移酶2（DGAT2）催化甘油三酯合成的最后一步，在脂肪合成中起重要作用，但其表达对肌内脂肪（IMF）含量和肌肉发育的影响尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们调查了该基因在鸽子中的表达及其与IMF含量和胸肌纤维特征的关联。鸽子胸肌中该基因的时空表达谱显示，在0至4周龄的八个组织中，皮下脂肪中该基因的mRNA表达水平最高（P<0.01），且呈逐周上升趋势，其次是肝脏（P<0.05）。此外，胸肌中该基因的mRNA和蛋白水平在0至4周均呈上升趋势（P<0.05），同时伴随着[具体基因名称1]和[具体基因名称2]的上调。另外，石蜡切片分析结果显示，胸肌纤维的直径和横截面积随年龄显著增加（P<0.05），且该基因表达水平与肌纤维直径呈显著正相关（P<0.05）。此外，相关性分析表明，鸽子该基因的mRNA表达水平与胸肌中的IMF含量显著相关（P<0.01）。这些结果表明，该基因与鸽子的IMF含量和胸肌纤维特征密切相关，表明DGAT2基因可能作为鸽子标记辅助育种的候选基因。
