IGF-I, GHR and UCP mRNA expression in the liver and muscle of high- and low-feed-efficiency laying Japanese quail at different environmental temperatures

• Published in: Livestock science Vol. 157; no. 1; pp. 339 - 344
• Main Authors: Gasparino, Eliane, Voltolini, Débora Marques, Del Vesco, Ana Paula, Guimarães, Simone Eliza Facioni, Nascimento, Carlos Souza do, de Oliveira Neto, Adhemar Rodrigues
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-10-2013
• Subjects: air temperature; ambient temperature; breast muscle; Cold stress; complementary DNA; energy; Feed efficiency; gene expression; genes; GHR; heat; Heat stress; IGF-I; insulin-like growth factor I; Japanese quails; liver; messenger RNA; quantitative polymerase chain reaction; somatotropin; UCP; GHR; IGF-I; Cold stress; UCP; Heat stress; Feed efficiency
• ISSN: 1871-1413; 1878-0490
• DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2013.06.028

In this study, we analyzed insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), growth hormone receptor (GHR) and uncoupling protein (UCP) mRNA expression in the muscle and liver of high- (0.23g/g) and low- (0.17g/g) feed-efficiency (FE) Japanese quail at three different air temperatures: comfortable (25°C), heat stress (38°C) for 12h or cold stress (10°C) for 12h. Total RNA was extracted from the liver and breast muscle of each quail, and cDNA was amplified using specific primers for the target genes. Expression was analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). IGF-I mRNA expression was higher in the livers of high-FE quail than in the livers of low-FE quail under both heat and cold stress conditions. High-FE birds also showed higher GHR mRNA expression independent of temperature. UCP mRNA expression in the liver was lower in high-FE birds and higher under heat stress compared with the other conditions. IGF-I mRNA expression was higher in the muscle of high-FE quail under the three conditions tested, and UCP mRNA expression was higher under cold stress. Our results suggest that air temperature affects the expression of genes related to growth and mitochondrial energy production, and quail with different feed efficiencies respond differently to environmental stimuli.