| Obesity is a serious international health problem that increases the risk of several common diseases. SNP in human fto gene is one factor that cause obesity. We aimed to reveal chicken FTO expression, the change of FTO level in treated chicken, its association with body weight as well as body fat, and to understand its similarity to human. Amino acid sequence alignment indicated that chicken FTO shared sequence homology with some vertebrates and algae, Micromonas pusilla. Quantitative real time PCR showed that this gene has higher expression level in brain tissue as compared to pancreas, liver, or abdominal fat in 15 days old broiler chicken. Feed treatment demonstrated that FTO expression might be regulated by feeding. There was an association between FTO expression and percent body fat but statistically it did not reveal significant correlation. This is the first study concerning FTO expression in chicken. |