Liver dominant expression of fatty acid synthase (FAS) gene in two chicken breeds during intramuscular-fat development

Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is a key enzyme of lipogenesis. In this study, the FAS mRNA expression patterns were examined in three fat related tissues (liver, breast and thigh) at different developmental stages in two chicken breeds (Beijing-You, BJY and Arbor Acres broiler, AA). Results of the Real time-qPCR showed that the expression of FAS mRNA level in liver was significantly higher (P < 0.01) than that in breast and thigh in both two chicken breeds. Significant differences of FAS mRNA expression in liver were found between BJY and AA chickens during different developmental stages. After the contents of intramuscular-fat (IMF) and the liver fat were measured, the correlation analysis was performed. In liver, the FAS mRNA level was highly correlated with hepatic fat content (r = 0.891, P < 0.01 for BJY; r = 0.901, P < 0.01 for AA). On the contrary, the FAS expression level in both breast and thigh tissues were relatively low, stable and there was no correlation between the FAS mRNA level and IMF content in breast and thigh tissues of each breed. The results here can contribute to the knowledge on the developmental expression pattern of FAS mRNA and facilitate the further research on the molecular mechanism underlying IMF deposition in chicken.