The age-dependent variations for fatty acid composition and sensory quality of chicken meat and associations between gene expression patterns and meat quality

•The mode of action on fatty acid composition and volatile flavor components of chicken meat were determined.•Fatty acids were significantly correlated with the volatile flavor compounds.•Module eigengenes 2 and 11 were more responsible for the age-dependent variation of fatty acid. Chicken meat is accompanied by physicochemical alterations during the process of growth and development, resulting in differences of nutritional value and meat flavor. The primary objective in the present study was to determine the mode of action on intramuscular fat content, serum lipid levels, fatty acid composition, and volatile flavor components of chicken meat. Negative correlations were observed between PUFA and aldehyde compounds and positive correlations were observed between PUFA and heterocyclic compounds. Intramuscular fat was correlated with only three volatile flavor compounds, indicating that the generation of volatile compounds was more dependent on the fatty acid composition rather than total intramuscular fat content. To explore the potential valuable biomarkers for sensorial and nutritional quality of chicken meat, a total of 12 temporal gene expression patterns were identified by transcriptomics. Module eigengenes 2 and 11 were significantly correlated with C14:0, C16:0, C18:1 cis-9, C18:2 cis-6, C18:3 n-3, C20:2, C20:3 n-6, C20:4 n-6, C22:6 n-3, C24:0, C24:0, C24:1, EFA, MUFA, PUFA, PUFA n-6 contents, and MUFA/SFA ratio, while were only significantly correlated with 1-octanol and 2-ethylhexyl glycidyl ether, respectively. Moreover, functional analysis of correlated-trait module eigengenes provided information on the explanation for the age-dependent variations for fatty acid composition and sensory quality of chicken meat.