Molecular characterization, expression analysis of gene and its potential role in intramuscular adipocyte differentiation of goat

is a cytokine secreted by adipose cells and plays an important regulatory role in adipocyte differentiation and lipid metabolism. However, the function of on intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition is still unknown in goat. Here, we cloned the cDNA of goat gene using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) technique and further clarified the expression pattern of in various tissues of goat. The siRNA against were synthesized to explore the potential role in intramuscular preadipocyte differentiation of goat. Our results showed that the full-length open reading frame (ORF) of was 489 bp encoding 162 amino acids, mainly expressed in liver and Kidney. The interference of significantly inhibited the differentiation of goat intramuscular preadipocyte and down-regulated significantly the expression levels of adipogenic marker genes . These data suggest that is a positive regulator of lipogenesis in goat intramuscular preadipocytes. Interestingly, the temporal expression pattern of was similar to during preadipocytre differentiation. These results will facilitate the research on the action of gene in goat intramuscular fat deposition.