Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase Is Essential for Porcine Adipocyte Differentiation
Fat deposition, which influences pork production, meat quality and growth efficiency, is an economically important trait in pigs. Numerous studies have demonstrated that stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), a key enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of saturated fatty acids into monounsaturated fatty acid...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2020-04-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/7/2446 |
| Summary: | Fat deposition, which influences pork production, meat quality and growth efficiency, is an economically important trait in pigs. Numerous studies have demonstrated that stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), a key enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of saturated fatty acids into monounsaturated fatty acids, is associated with fatty acid composition in pigs. As <i>SCD</i> was observed to be significantly induced in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes differentiation, we hypothesized that it plays a role in porcine adipocyte differentiation and fat deposition. In this study, we revealed that <i>SCD</i> is highly expressed in adipose tissues from seven-day-old piglets, compared to its expression in tissues from four-month-old adult pigs. Moreover, we found that <i>SCD</i> and lipogenesis-related genes were induced significantly in differentiated porcine adipocytes. Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we generated <i>SCD<sup>-/-</sup></i> porcine embryonic fibroblasts (PEFs) and found that the loss of <i>SCD</i> led to dramatically decreased transdifferentiation efficiency, as evidenced by the decreased expression of known lipid synthesis-related genes, lower levels of oil red O staining and significantly lower levels of triglyceride content. Our study demonstrates the critical role of <i>SCD</i> expression in porcine adipocyte differentiation and paves the way for identifying it as the promising candidate gene for less fat deposition in pigs. |
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| ISSN: | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |