AUTHOR=Liu Xiaojing , Liu Lu , Wang Jie , Cui Huanxian , Zhao Guiping , Wen Jie 

TITLE=FOSL2 Is Involved in the Regulation of Glycogen Content in Chicken Breast Muscle Tissue

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.682441

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2021.682441

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>The glycogen content in muscle of livestock and poultry animals affects the homeostasis of their body, growth performance, and meat quality after slaughter. FOS-like 2, AP-1 transcription factor subunit (FOSL2) was identified as a candidate gene related to muscle glycogen (MG) content in chicken in our previous study, but the role of FOSL2 in the regulation of MG content remains to be elucidated. Differential gene expression analysis and weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) were performed on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in breast muscle tissues from the high-MG-content (HMG) group and low-MG-content (LMG) group of Jingxing yellow chickens. Analysis of the 1,171 DEGs (LMG vs. HMG) identified, besides <italic>FOSL2</italic>, some additional genes related to MG metabolism pathway, namely <italic>PRKAG3</italic>, <italic>CEBPB</italic>, <italic>FOXO1</italic>, <italic>AMPK</italic>, and <italic>PIK3CB</italic>. Additionally, WGCNA revealed that <italic>FOSL2</italic>, <italic>CEBPB</italic>, <italic>MAP3K14</italic>, <italic>SLC2A14</italic>, <italic>PPP2CA</italic>, <italic>SLC38A2</italic>, <italic>PPP2R5E</italic>, and other genes related to the classical glycogen metabolism in the same coexpressed module are associated with MG content. Also, besides finding that <italic>FOSL2</italic> expression is negatively correlated with MG content, a possible interaction between <italic>FOSL2</italic> and <italic>CEBPB</italic> was predicted using the STRING (Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes) database. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of lentiviral overexpression of FOSL2 on the regulation of the glycogen content <italic>in vitro</italic>, and the result indicated that FOSL2 decreases the glycogen content in DF1 cells. Collectively, our results confirm that FOSL2 has a key role in the regulation of the MG content in chicken. This finding is helpful to understand the mechanism of MG metabolism regulation in chicken and provides a new perspective for the production of high-quality broiler and the development of a comprehensive nutritional control strategy.</p>