Identification of Differentially Expressed Proteins at Four Growing Stages in Chicken Liver

Because of high growth rate and large deposition of fat in the abdomen, the chicken has been used as a model organism for understanding lipid metabolism, fattening and growing. In this study, differentially expression of proteins in chicken liver, one of the important organs for lipid metabolism, has been investigated at four different growing stages. After separation of proteins using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE), more than 700 protein spots were detected. Among them, 13 growing stage specific proteins in chicken liver were selected and further investigated by matrix-assisted laser adsorptions ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Of these, 12 proteins were matched to existing proteins based on a database search. The identified fat-related proteins in this study were fatty acid synthase (FASN) and malic enzyme (ME1). These proteins were more highly expressed at week 32 than at other weeks. In order to confirm the differential expression, one of the proteins, FASN, was confirmed by western blotting. The identified proteins will give valuable information on biochemical roles in chicken liver, especially for lipid metabolism.