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Cloning and ontogenetic expression of the uncoupling protein 1 gene UCP1 in sheep

  • Animal Genetics • Original Paper
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Abstract

The uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) is an indicator of brown adipocytes and is involved in the control of body temperature and regulation of energy balance. It abundantly expresses in newborns and has important functions in adults. However, little information was known on UCP1 gene expression in young and adolescent sheep. In this study, we cloned and identified the full-length DNA and cDNA sequences of the ovine UCP1 gene, which were 6659 bp and 1621 bp, respectively, and predicted the location of the gene on chromosome 17. Forty-eight animals with an equal number of males and females each for both Guangling Large Tail sheep (GLT) and Small Tail sheep Han (STH) sheep were used to study the ontogenetic expression of UCP1 mRNA in eight adipose tissues by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results showed that the mRNA was expressed in all tissues studied and at all stages from 2 to 12 months of age. Nevertheless, the mRNA in perirenal fat was expressed significantly higher than that in other tissues and lower in superficial fat than in deep deposits. The highest expression was observed in animals at 2 months of age and then decreased gradually with age. Global expression in GLT was significantly higher than that in STH. Interactions between tissue and breed and age also influenced the mRNA expression significantly. In addition, the mRNA expression was associated with the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotypes detected in the cDNA of the gene.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the staff of the Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Shanxi Agricultural University. This study was supported by the project of the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (no. 30972084), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University, Ministry of Education of China (no. NCET-05-0269) and the Excellent Innovation Project for Graduate in Shanxi Province (no. 20103042).

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  1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, 030801, China

    Ya-Nan Yuan, Wen-Zhong Liu, Jian-Hua Liu, Li-Ying Qiao & Jian-Liang Wu

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  1. Ya-Nan Yuan
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  2. Wen-Zhong Liu
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  4. Li-Ying Qiao
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Correspondence to Wen-Zhong Liu.

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Yuan, YN., Liu, WZ., Liu, JH. et al. Cloning and ontogenetic expression of the uncoupling protein 1 gene UCP1 in sheep. J Appl Genetics 53, 203–212 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-012-0086-0

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