Sirt1 regulates the expression of critical metabolic genes in chicken hepatocytes

Abstract

Context Studies in mammals show that SIRT1 plays an important role in many biological processes including liver metabolism through histone and non-histone deacetylation. Little is known about the function of Sirt1 in the chicken. Aims The current study investigated the expression pattern of Sirt1 mRNA in the chicken and its functions in the chicken liver. Methods In this work, we used real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction to quantify the expression levels of Sirt1 mRNA in major chicken organs and tissue types, siRNA to knock down Sirt1 expression in primary chicken hepatocytes, RNA sequencing to identify gene-expression changes induced by Sirt1 knockdown, and analysed the function of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) through gene ontology enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes ontology analysis. Key results In total, 86 DEGs were found between Sirt1 knockdown and control chicken hepatocytes, of which 63 genes were downregulated and 23 genes were upregulated by Sirt1 knockdown. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis showed that 24 DEGs were involved in metabolism. Seven DEGs were involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Conclusions The present study showed that Sirt1 regulates the expression of genes involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and many other biological processes in the chicken liver. Implications The results of the present study imply that Sirt1 has various functions in the chicken liver and that Sirt1 plays a potentially important role in hepatic carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the chicken.