Transcriptomic analysis identifies hub genes involved in age-dependent abdominal fat development in chickens

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Excessive accumulation of abdominal fat (AF) reduces feed efficiency and carcass yield, posing a significant challenge to the poultry industry. However, the molecular network underlying age-dependent AF development remains unclear, despite some recent progress. In this study, we quantified the abdominal adipocyte area and sequenced 20 AF transcriptomes from eight 9-week-old (9 W) and twelve 20-week-old (20 W) Wannan chickens. The abdominal adipocyte area increased significantly at 20 W compared with 9 W (p < 0.001). Differentially expressed gene analysis between the two age groups revealed 235 up-regulated and 206 down-regulated genes in the 20 W. Enrichment analysis revealed the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, cell adhesion molecules, TGF-beta signaling pathway, and biological processes related to the cell surface receptor signaling pathway and cellular developmental process. We performed weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) using a total of 23,225 genes, which identified 32 co-expression modules. The darkgreen, lightcyan1, and royalblue modules were significantly correlated with adipocyte area, abdominal fat percentage (AFP), and age. Genes within these modules were enriched in GO terms such as the catalytic complex, oleate transmembrane transporter activity, and cell cycle process. Notably, 5 up-regulated genes were identified in the darkgreen module,

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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