Excess fat deposition in broilers leads to great economic losses and is harmful to consumers' health. Chronic stress in the life cycle of chickens could be an important trigger. However, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, 30-day-old chickens were subcutaneously injected with 2 mg/kg corticosterone (CORT) twice a day for 14 days to simulate long-term stress. It was shown that chronic CORT exposure significantly increased plasma triglyceride concentrations and enlarged the adipocyte sizes in chickens. Meanwhile, chronic CORT administration significantly enlarged the adipocyte sizes, increased the protein contents of FASN and decreased HSL, ATGL, Beclin1 and PPARA protein levels. Moreover, global m6A methylations were significantly reduced and accompanied by downregulated METTL3 and YTHDF2 protein expression by CORT treatment. Interestingly, the significant differences of site-specific m6A demethylation were observed in exon7 of PPARA mRNA. Additionally, a mutation of the m6A site in the PPARA gene fused GFP and revealed that demethylated RRACH in PPARA CDS impaired protein translation in vitro. In conclusion, these results indicated that m6A-mediated PPARA translational suppression contributes to CORT-induced visceral fat deposition in chickens, which may provide a new target for the treatment of Cushing's syndrome.
Keywords: PPARA; adipose tissues; chicken; corticosterone; m6A.