Abstract
Intramuscular fat (IMF) is the most important evaluating indicator of chicken meat quality, the content of which is positively correlated with tenderness, flavor, and succulence of the meat. Chicken IMF deposition process is regulated by many factors, including genetic, nutrition, and environment. Although large number of omics’ studies focused on the IMF deposition process, the molecular mechanism of chicken IMF deposition is still poorly understood. In order to study the role of miRNAs in chicken intramuscular adipogenesis, the intramuscular adipocyte differentiation model (IMF-preadipocytes and IMF-adipocytes) was established and subject to miRNA-Seq. A total of 117 differentially expressed miRNAs between two groups were obtained. Target genes prediction and functional enrichment analysis revealed that eight pathways involved in lipid metabolism related processes, such as fatty acid metabolism and fatty acid elongation. Meanwhile a putative miRNA, gga-miR-18b-3p, was identified be served a function in the intramuscular adipocyte differentiation. Luciferase assay suggested that the gga-miR-18b-3p targeted to the 3′UTR of ACOT13. Subsequent functional experiments demonstrated that gga-miR-18b-3p acted as an inhibitor of intramuscular adipocyte differentiation by targeting ACOT13. Our findings laid a new theoretical foundation for the study of lipid metabolism, and also provided a potential target to improve the meat quality in the poultry industry.
Highlights
Meat products are essential for humans to maintain a balanced diet
Intramuscular fat (IMF)-preadipocytes and IMF-adipocytes are shown in morphological characteristics of chicken
These results suggested that miR-18b-3p inhibited the preadipocytes differentiation by down-regulating the Acyl-CoA thioesterase 13 (ACOT13) gene
Summary
Meat products are essential for humans to maintain a balanced diet. Recently, great progress has been achieved in meat quantity by genetic selection for growth rate and meat yield. The strong selection led to the decline in the meat quality, which presented as larger fiber diameters, higher proportion of glycolytic fibers, and lower intramuscular fat (IMF) [1,2]. It has been demonstrated that IMF content, the amount of fat within muscles, was positively correlated with flavor, juiciness, and tenderness [3]. Gushi chicken as a Chinese local chicken breed with high meat quality, has been favored by most consumers for its delicious and unique-flavored meat. Numerous studies have shown that intramuscular fat correlated with muscle flavor, and related to many other meat quality traits (such as muscle pH, hydraulics, tenderness, etc.) [2,3,4,5,6].
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