Alternative transcription of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma in the liver is associated with fatness of chickens

Abstract

The expression of four transcription variant of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma gene (PPARG) (XM_015292931.1; XM_015292932.1; XM_015292933.1 and NM_001001460.1) in the liver of broilers was measured and its correlation with abdominal fat weight and relative abdominal fat content was investigated. The study was conducted with 92 slow-growing crossbred chickens (Cobb males x indigenous Green-legged Partridge female chickens) divided into “fat” and “lean” groups, according to their abdominal fat yield. The NM_001001460.1 transcriptwas upregulated with ratio of means 4.26 (p≤0.01) in the “fat” group in relation to the “lean” group. Expression of this transcript was highly correlated with relative abdominal fat content (0.71, p≤0.01) and abdominal fat weight (0.59, p≤0.01). Two SNPs are located in putative transcription factor binding sites. Mutation-991C>A disrupts PPAR while mutation-884C>T disrupts C/EBP putative binding site. The gene expression analysis of PPARg showed that the expression of the transcripts (NM_001001460.1) was more than four times higher in fat than in lean chickens. These results point out that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma NM_001001460.1 transcript could be candidate gene for determination of abdominal fat deposition in the chickens.