S. Daval et al., Messenger RNA levels and transcription rates of hepatic lipogenesis genes in genetically lean and fat chickens, GEN SEL EVO, 32(5), 2000, pp. 521-531
Levels of body fat content in commercial meat chickens have prompted resear
ch in order to control the development of this trait. Based on experimental
ly selected divergent lean and fat lines, many studies have shown that live
r metabolism has a major role in the fatness variability. In order to ident
ify which genes are involved in this variability, we investigated the expre
ssion of several genes implicated in the hepatic lipid metabolism. The stud
ied genes code for enzymes of fatty acid synthesis [ATP citrate-lyase (ACL)
, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS), malic enzyme (ME
), stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD1)], for an apolipoprotein [apolipoprotein A
l (APOA1)], and for the CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBP alpha),
which is a transcription factor implied in the regulation of several genes
of lipid metabolism. The results show that the fat-line chickens display s
ignificantly higher hepatic transcription rates and mRNA levels than the le
an-line chickens for the ACL, ME and APOA1 genes. This suggests that these
genes could be responsible for the phenotypic fatness variability.