Molecular and metabolic profiles suggest that increased lipid catabolism in adipose tissue contributes to leanness in domestic chickens

Domestic chicken has been intensively studied because of its role as an efficient source of lean meat. However, commercial broilers resulting from genetic selection for rapid growth demonstrate detrimental traits, such as excess deposition of abdominal adipose tissue, metabolic disorders, and reduced reproduction. Therefore fast-growing broilers represent obese chickens compared to slow-growing egg layers (e.g, Leghorn) or wild strain of meat-type chickens (e.g., Fayoumi). Fayoumi chickens, originating from Egypt, represent a harder stain of chickens, which are more resistant to diseases. Leghorn chickens are the original breed of commercial U.S layers. Both lines were maintained highly inbred by Iowa State University poultry geneticists with an inbreeding coefficient higher than 0.95. Both Fayoumi and Leghorn demonstrated lean phenotype compared to broilers, and these three lines of chickens are genetically distant from each other.

17

Ji B, Middleton JL, Ernest B, Saxton AM, Lamont SJ, Campagna SR, Voy BH