Chen Yanji, Wang Yongli, Liu Xiaojing, Wang Yanke, Wen Jie, Zhao Guiping, Cui Huanxian
State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feeding, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100193, China.
Heliyon. 2024 Jul 30;10(15):e35437. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e35437. eCollection 2024 Aug 15.
Fatty acids () are one of the most important bioactive compounds affecting the quality of meat. In this study, we compared the expression profiles of genes involved in FA production in the breast muscle of Jingxing Yellow chickens at different days of age determined by transcriptomic analysis to identify key genes and pathways regulating the FA composition of the breast muscle. Through clustering analysis of gene expression data, the growth process of broiler chickens can be divided into two stages, namely the growth and development stage at the 35th and 63rd days of age (D35, D63), and the mature stage at the 119th day of age (D119). The content of some important unsaturated fatty acids (), such as C18:2n6c, C20:4n6, and C22:6n3, in the pectoral muscles, differed significantly between these two stages (p < 0.05). Therefore, we compared the gene expression profiles at D35 and D63 with those at D119, and identified differentially expressed genes (). The gene modules related to the five UFAs with significant changes were identified by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (), and then 150 crossover genes were identified by crossover analysis of the detected DEGs and WGCNA. The results of the pathway enrichment analysis revealed the glycerolipid metabolism pathway related to lipid metabolism, in which the and genes were particularly enriched. In this study, the expression levels of and showed an increasing trend during the growth process of broilers, with a negative regulatory effect on the significantly reduced content of C18:2n6c in the pectoral muscle, and a positive regulatory effect on the significantly increased content of C20:4n6. These findings indicated that and synergistically promote the deposition of FAs, which may further promote the conversion of linoleic acid (C18:2n6c) to arachidonic acid (C20:4n6). Therefore, screening and identifying FA production-related functional genes are key to elucidate the regulatory molecular mechanism of production of FAs in chicken muscle, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for improving chicken meat quality.
脂肪酸（）是影响肉质的最重要的生物活性化合物之一。在本研究中，我们通过转录组分析比较了不同日龄的景星黄鸡胸肌中参与脂肪酸生成的基因表达谱，以确定调控胸肌脂肪酸组成的关键基因和途径。通过对基因表达数据的聚类分析，肉鸡的生长过程可分为两个阶段，即35日龄和63日龄（D35、D63）的生长发育阶段，以及119日龄（D119）的成熟阶段。胸肌中一些重要的不饱和脂肪酸（），如C18:2n6c、C20:4n6和C22:6n3的含量在这两个阶段之间存在显著差异（p < 0.05）。因此，我们比较了D35和D63与D119时的基因表达谱，并鉴定了差异表达基因（）。通过加权基因共表达网络分析（）鉴定了与五个显著变化的不饱和脂肪酸相关的基因模块，然后通过检测到的差异表达基因与加权基因共表达网络分析的交叉分析鉴定了150个交叉基因。通路富集分析结果揭示了与脂质代谢相关的甘油olipid代谢途径，其中和基因特别富集。在本研究中，和的表达水平在肉鸡生长过程中呈上升趋势，对胸肌中C18:2n6c含量显著降低有负调控作用，对C20:4n6含量显著增加有正调控作用。这些发现表明，和协同促进脂肪酸的沉积，这可能进一步促进亚油酸（C18:2n6c）向花生四烯酸（C20:4n6）的转化。因此，筛选和鉴定与脂肪酸生成相关的功能基因是阐明鸡肉肌肉中脂肪酸生成调控分子机制的关键，旨在为改善鸡肉品质提供理论依据。
