Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals a More Complicated Adipogenic Process in Intramuscular Stem Cells than That of Subcutaneous Vascular Stem Cells

Fat-related
traits have great influences on pork quality. As different
fat tissues have different biochemical profiles depending on their
location, intramuscular fat contributes to gustatory qualities, while
subcutaneous fat is considered as a negative factor associated with
growth performance. In this study, both primary intramuscular and
subcutaneous vascular stem cells (IVSCs and SVSCs) could be differentiated
into mature adipocytes, though the IVSC differentiation efficiency
was lower. By comparative analysis of transcriptomes, 2524 differentially
expressed genes (DEGs) were found between two VSCs before differentiation,
while only 551 DEGs were found and enriched in two pathways including
biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids after differentiation. This
result indicated that differentiated VSCs were more similar. During
differentiation, more DEGs existed in IVSCs than that in SVSCs, suggesting
that adipogenesis of IVSCs might be more complex. Additionally, the
expression level of DEGs involved in the adipogenic process helps
to explain the difference of differentiation efficiency between IVSCs
and SVSCs.