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Title: Identification of a new splice variant of BDNF in chicken

Author
item YU, YING - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item Zhang, Huanmin
item Bacon, Larry
item SONG, JIUZHOU - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome VX Conference Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/27/2006
Publication Date: 1/13/2007
Citation: Yu, Y., Zhang, H.M., Bacon, L.D., Song, J. 2007. Identification of a new splice variant of BDNF in chicken [abstract]. Plant and Animal Genome VX Conference Abstracts. Paper #814. p. 305.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) appears to be involved in the central regulation of energy homeostasis. BDNF splicing variants were discovered in vertebrates. Results from human, mouse and rat suggest that alternative BDNF splicing variants potentially play a role in fat deposition. Using two inbred lines, 63 and 72, we identified a novel splicing variant, chicken BDNF1, in which the 5’ UTR contains an extra translation initiation codon that may add 8 additional amino acids compared to reported BDNF. The BDNF1 variant contains an upstream exon 1 (326 bp) that can be spliced to the coding exon 2 to form bipartite transcripts. Sequence analysis revealed that two of the exons of chicken BDNF1 are highly conserved comparing to the BDNF gene in human, mouse and rat. The chicken BDNF1 also shares high homology to the human BDNF3 variant, and to the mouse and rat BDNF1 variants. Gene expression analysis was conducted in 9 tissues and chicken BDNF1 was found in the hypothalamus in both inbred lines 63 and 72. However, it was found in spleen only in line 63 and in pituitary only in line 72, when chickens were 65 weeks of age. At this age the abdominal fat/body weight ratio was significantly high in line 63 than in 72 (P<0.01). These data suggest chicken BDNF1 may be tissue-specifically expressed in a given genetic background and associated with abdominal fat deposition in chicken. More studies are needed to further evaluate this association and to identify the regulatory mechanism of the new unique chicken BDNF1.