Abstract
Muscle development and growth influences the efficiency of poultry meat production, and is closely related to deposition of intramuscular fat (IMF), which is crucial in meat quality. To clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying muscle development and IMF deposition in chickens, protein expression profiles were examined in the breast muscle of Beijing-You chickens at ages 1, 56, 98 and 140 days, using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ). Two hundred and four of 494 proteins were expressed differentially. The expression profile at day 1 differed greatly from those at day 56, 98 and 140. KEGG pathway analysis of differential protein expression from pair-wise comparisons (day 1 vs. 56; 56 vs. 98; 98 vs. 140), showed that the fatty acid degradation pathway was more active during the stage from day 1 to 56 than at other periods. This was consistent with the change in IMF content, which was highest at day 1 and declined dramatically thereafter. When muscle growth was most rapid (days 56–98), pathways involved in muscle development were dominant, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, cardiac muscle contraction, tight junctions and focal adhesion. In contrast with hatchlings, the fatty acid degradation pathway was downregulated from day 98 to 140, which was consistent with the period for IMF deposition following rapid muscle growth. Changes in some key specific proteins, including fast skeletal muscle troponin T isoform, aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 and apolipoprotein A1, were verified by Western blotting, and could be potential biomarkers for IMF deposition in chickens. Protein–protein interaction networks showed that ribosome-related functional modules were clustered in all three stages. However, the functional module involved in the metabolic pathway was only clustered in the first stage (day 1 vs. 56). This study improves our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying muscle development and IMF deposition in chickens.
Highlights
Improvement in lifestyle and changes in consumption habits mean that livestock production aims to provide sufficient meat of improved quality
Meat quality and production are influenced by intramuscular fat (IMF) content and skeletal muscle development
Traits related to breast muscle weight and IMF content were measured (Fig 1A and 1B)
Summary
Improvement in lifestyle and changes in consumption habits mean that livestock production aims to provide sufficient meat of improved quality. Many studies have characterized proteins from 2-DE gels in pigs [7], cattle[8,9], and layers [5] at different stages of embryonic development to early growth after hatching. Bioinformatic analysis of 87 proteins that differed significantly in abundance between the four stages revealed proteins involved in the p53 pathway, lipid metabolism, and mitosis, indicating that these processes may play pivotal roles in embryonic development[11]. All of these studies showed the utility of proteomics as a tool for uncovering the molecular basis of physiological differences in muscle during these growth periods. Compared with the methods previously used (1D and 2D gels), the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) analysis in the present study is more accurate and has been widely applied to investigate the proteome of different organisms at different developmental stages [12,13,14,15]
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