Gene Expression Profiles of Preadipocyte Differentiation by DNA microarray Analysis

Adipocyte, a major fat producing cell, plays a critical role in energy metabolism and is considered an important factor for meat quality determination. To understand the mechanism on intracellular fat accumulation during adipogenesis in bovine, the adipogenic genes involved were studied during preadipocyte differentiation. DNA microarray analysis with 24,000 oligo chip was performed between preadipocyte and adipocytes of Intramuscular fat (IMF), Abdominal fat (AF), and Subcutaneous fat (SF). A total of 903 and 851 genes were upregulated by more than two fold in preadipocyte and adipocyte, respectively. Functional categorization of those identified genes into different groups by KOG analysis revealed most of the genes in adipocyte belonged to general function prediction and lipid transport and metabolism. Chromosomal mapping showed chromosome 3 and 8 contained the highest number of genes upregulated during adipogenesis. This study may provide an insight to better understanding the molecular mechanism involved in adipogenesis. The identified genes may be used as a marker to increase meat quality.