Abstract
BackgroundThe development of skeletal muscle is closely related to the efficiency of meat production and meat quality. Chicken skeletal muscle development depends on myogenesis and adipogenesis and occurs in two phases—hyperplasia and hypertrophy. However, cell profiles corresponding to the two-phase muscle development have yet to be determined. Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) can elucidate the cell subpopulations in tissue and capture the gene expression of individual cells, which can provide new insights into the myogenesis and intramuscular adipogenesis.ResultsTen cell clusters at the post-hatching developmental stage at Day 5 and seven cell clusters at the late developmental stage at Day 100 were identified in chicken breast muscles by scRNA-seq. Five myocyte-related clusters and two adipocyte clusters were identified at Day 5, and one myocyte cluster and one adipocyte cluster were identified at Day 100. The pattern of cell clustering varied between the two stages. The cell clusters showed clear boundaries at the terminal differentiation stage at Day 100; by contrast, cell differentiation was not complete at Day 5. APOA1 and COL1A1 were selected from up-regulated genes in the adipocyte cluster and found to be co-expressed with the ADIPOQ adipocyte marker gene in breast muscles by RNA in situ hybridization.ConclusionsThis study is the first to describe the heterogeneity of chicken skeletal muscle at two developmental stages. The genes APOA1 and COL1A1 were identified as biomarkers for chicken intramuscular fat cells.
Highlights
The development of skeletal muscle is closely related to the efficiency of meat production and meat quality
At Day 5 (D5), 13,725 genes were detected, with an average of 826 unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) and 264 genes expressed per cell
At Day 100 (D100), 10,917 genes were detected, with an average of 218 UMIs and 107 genes expressed per cell
Summary
The development of skeletal muscle is closely related to the efficiency of meat production and meat quality. Chicken skeletal muscle development depends on myogenesis and adipogenesis and occurs in two phases— hyperplasia and hypertrophy. Cell profiles corresponding to the two-phase muscle development have yet to be determined. Skeletal muscle development depends on myogenesis and adipogenesis. Both myocytes and adipocytes originate from mesenchymal progenitor cells [2]. Their development occurs in two phases, the determination phase (hyperplasia) and the terminal differentiation phase (hypertrophy). Hyperplasia refers to the increase in the number of cells, which occurs mainly in the embryonic period as the numbers of adipocytes and muscle fibers are fixed by the day of birth or in early postnatal
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