High-quality chicken meat is an important source of animal protein for humans. Gene expression profiles in breast muscle tissue were determined, aiming to explore the common regulatory genes relevant to muscle and intramuscular fat (IMF) during the developmental stage in chickens. Results show that breast muscle weight (BMW), breast meat percentage (BMP, %), and IMF (%) continuously increased with development. A total of 256 common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) during the developmental stage were screened. Among them, some genes related to muscle fiber hypertrophy were upregulated (e.g., CSRP3, LMOD2, MUSTN1, MYBPC1), but others (e.g., ACTC1, MYL1, MYL4) were downregulated from Week 3 to Week 18. During this period, expression of some DEGs related to the cells cycle (e.g., CCNB3, CCNE2, CDC20, MCM2) changed in a way that genetically suggests possible inhibitory regulation on cells number. In addition, DEGs associated with energy metabolism (e.g., ACOT9, CETP, LPIN1, DGAT2, RBP7, FBP1, PHKA1) were found to regulate IMF deposition. Our data identified and provide new insights into the common regulatory genes related to muscle growth, cell proliferation, and energy metabolism at the developmental stage in chickens.
Keywords: chicken; fat metabolism; gene expression profiling; molecular regulation; muscle development.