MiRNAs and mRNAs Analysis during Abdominal Preadipocyte Differentiation in Chickens

The excessive deposition of abdominal fat has become an important factor in restricting the production efficiency of chickens, so reducing abdominal fat deposition is important for improving growth rate. It has been proven that miRNAs play an important role in regulating many physiological processes of organisms. In this study, we constructed a model of adipogenesis by isolating preadipocytes (Ab-Pre) derived from abdominal adipose tissue and differentiated adipocytes (Ab-Ad) in vitro. Deep sequencing of miRNAs and mRNAs expressed in Ab-Pre and Ab-Ad groups was conducted to explore the effect of miRNAs and mRNAs on fat deposition. We identified 80 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) candidates, 58 of which were up-regulated and 22 down-regulated. Furthermore, six miRNAs and six mRNAs were verified by qRT-PCR, and the results showed that the expression of the DEMs and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the two groups was consistent with our sequencing results. When target genes of miRNA were combined with mRNA transcriptome data, a total of 891 intersection genes were obtained, we predicted the signal pathways of cross genes enrichment to the MAPK signal pathway, insulin signal pathway, fatty acid metabolism, and ECM-receptor interaction. Meanwhile, we constructed miRNA and negatively correlated mRNA target networks, including 12 miRNA-mRNAs pairs, which showed a strong association with the abdominal adipocyte differentiation (miR-214-ACSBG2, NFKB2, CAMK2A, ACLY, CCND3, PLK3, ITGB2; miR-148a-5p-ROCK2; miR-10a-5p-ELOVL5; miR-146b-5p-LAMA4; miR-6615-5p-FLNB; miR-1774-COL6A1). Overall, these findings provide a background for further research on lipid metabolism. Thus, we can better understand the molecular genetic mechanism of chicken abdominal fat deposition.