Activation of skeletal ChREBP increases IMFlevel in mice and Broiler Chickens

Intramuscular fat (IMF) content is one of the key factors affecting meat quality. Carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP) can promote glucose metabolism and fat synthesis by activating the expression of glycolysis and lipogenesis-related genes, but its function and regulatory mechanism in IMF are still unclear. This study evaluated the correlation between TG content and ChREBP expression level in muscles of different species to reveal the relationship between ChREBP and IMF. RNA-seq analysis showed that overexpressing ChREBP in C2C12 cells can significantly up-regulate fatty acid synthesis pathways, while significantly down-regulate the expression levels of muscle development pathways and related genes. In vivo, we found that overexpression of ChREBP or activation by fructose significantly increased the triglyceride content of the tibialis anterior muscle (TA) and the IMF content of yellow feather chicken leg and breast muscle in mice. And lipidomics data also found that feeding fructose can change the lipid composition of yellow feather broiler breast muscle and improve the flavor substances. This study demonstrated that ChREBP is a key gene regulating IMF deposition, providing a new target for genetic selection and nutritional regulation of IMF content.