Studies On Chicken Heart And Adipocyte Type Fatty Acid Binding Protein Gene Expression And Their Relationship With Intramuscular Fat Content

Chicken heart type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) gene and adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP) gene were studied as two candidate genes which having effects on intramuscular fat (IMF) content. Four chicken breeds, including BeijingYou chicken, Dwarf chicken, White Leghorn chicken, Acre Arbor broiler were used as experimental populations. Real-time fluorescence quantify analysis of technique were used to study genetic expression quantity in candidate genes at 56, 90 and 120 days of age. The associations between genetic expression quantity and intramuscular fat content and performance traits were analyzed by using partial correlation. The results were as follows: 1. The breeds and sex had significant influence on the levels of H-FABP mRNA and A-FABP mRNA. The H-FABP mRNA expression increased with the increase of age, but the A-FABP mRNA expression decreased with the increase of age. The H-FABP expression of Beijingyou Chickens was higher than that of White Leghorn and Dwarf Chicken. The A-FABP expression of Dwarf Chickens was lower than that of others. The sex had a significant influence on the A-FABP mRNA expression. The A-FABP expression of male has higher than that of female. 2 The IMF contents of leg muscle were 3-4 folds than that of breast muscle. The IMF contents of leg muscle in female were significantly higher than in male. The breed and age had the significantly effect on the IMF content (p<0.01). The IMF content of Dwarf chickens at different age was higher than other breeds. Beijingyou chicken was middle levels of IMF contents, which was better flavour than others. 3 The levels of H-FABP mRNA and A-FABP mRNA expression and IMF and abdominal fat percent(PAF) were analysed by SAS partial correlation. The results showed that the correlation of H-FABP expression levels were negative with A-FABP expression in Beijngyou Chickens and Dwarf Chickens and White Leghorn. The H-FABP expression levels were significantly negative with IMF and PAF and carcass weight Leghorn. The correlation coefficient was rbreast=-0.38(p<0.01), rleg=-0.24(p<0.05),rA-F=-0.29(p<0.01), rcarcass=-0.32(p<0.01) respectively. The A-FABP mRNA expression had an insignificantly effect on the IMF of Beijingyou chicken and White Leghorn chicken and Acre Arbor broil, but had a significantly effect on the carcass weight and eviscerate percentage. The coefficient between A-FABP expression and body weight increased with the increasing of age(r90d=0.44, r120d=0.48). 4 The IMF content was positively related with PAF and carcass weight and eviscerate percentage. 5 The effect of H-FABP and A-FABP mRNA expression on the IMF content and performance were different amongst chicken breeds. The H-FABP mRNA expression was negatively related significantly with IMF% in Beijingyou Chickens (rbreast=-0.428, p<0.01; rleg=-0.413, p<0.05). The A-FABP mRNA expression was negatively related significantly with IMF (r=-0.48, p<0.05), but H-FABP mRNA expression had an insignificantly effect on the IMF contents in Dwarf Chickens. The H-FABP mRNA expression had a significantly effect on leg IMF% in White Leghorn chicken (r=-0.35, 0<=0.05). The A-FABP mRNA expression had an insignificantly effect on IMF contents.