Transcriptional analysis of abdominal fat in genetically fat and lean chickens reveals adipokines, lipogenic genes and a link between hemostasis and leanness

Table 4 Transcriptional regulators of genes that control the divergence of abdominal fatness in FL and LL chickens

Symbol	NCBI Entrez gene name	Activation z-score	P-value of overlap	# Target molecules
CEBPA	CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP), alpha	0.379	1.61E-15	34
CEBPB	CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP), beta	1.935	1.75E-10	25
CREB1	cAMP responsive element binding protein 1	0.527	1.64E-05	15
NR0B2	nuclear receptor subfamily 0, group B, member 2 (SHP)	−0.84	3.74E-08	10
NR1H2	nuclear receptor subfamily 1, group H, member 2 (LXRB)	−1.512	2.64E-10	12
NR1H3	nuclear receptor subfamily 1, group H, member 3 (LXRA)	−0.2	4.69E-11	14
NR1H4	nuclear receptor subfamily 1, group H, member 4 (FXR)	1.076	1.40E-06	11
NR5A2	nuclear receptor subfamily 5, group A, member 2 (LRH1)	−1.412	3.57E-04	7
PPARA	peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha	−1.339	1.78E-32	54
PPARD	peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta	−0.767	3.13E-13	21
PPARG	peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma	−1.629	1.38E-27	48
PPARGC1B	peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, coactivator 1 beta	1.488	1.37E-12	12
RXRA	retinoid X receptor, alpha	−0.932	3.32E-18	31
SREBF1	sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1	0.511	2.91E-20	29
SREBF2	sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 2	1.171	2.78E-15	17
THRA	thyroid hormone receptor, alpha	−0.246	2.08E-08	12
THRB	thyroid hormone receptor, beta	1.135	7.18E-11	19

Ingenuity Upstream Regulator Analysis® identified multiple transcription factors (mainly ligand-activated nuclear factors) controlling a greatly amplified number of lipid metabolism genes in abdominal fat during juvenile development (1–11 wk) of FL and LL chickens (see Figure 9). The activation Z-score indicates whether the observed gene responses to upstream regulators agrees with expected changes derived from the literature and accrued in the Ingenuity® Knowledge Base [42]. A Fisher’s Exact Test was used to determine the significance for enrichment of our target DE genes controlled by numerous upstream regulators and annotated in the Ingenuity® Knowledge Base.
Abbreviations: small heterodimer partner (SHP), liver X receptor alpha (LXRA), liver X receptor beta (LXRB), farnesoid X nuclear receptor (FXR), and liver receptor homolog 1 (LRH1).