Transcriptional analysis of abdominal fat in chickens divergently selected on bodyweight at two ages reveals novel mechanisms controlling adiposity: validating visceral adipose tissue as a dynamic endocrine and metabolic organ

摘要

BackgroundDecades of intensive genetic selection in the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) have enabled the remarkable rapid growth of today’s broiler (meat-type) chickens. However, this enhanced growth rate was accompanied by several unfavorable traits (i.e., increased visceral fatness, leg weakness, and disorders of metabolism and reproduction). The present descriptive analysis of the abdominal fat transcriptome aimed to identify functional genes and biological pathways that likely contribute to an extreme difference in visceral fatness of divergently selected broiler chickens.