Genome-Wide Analysis of the KLF Gene Family in Chicken: Characterization and Expression Profile

The kruppel-like factor ( ) gene family is a group of transcription factors containing highly conserved zinc-finger motifs, which play a crucial role in cell proliferation and differentiation. Chicken has been widely used as a model animal for analyzing gene function, however, little is known about the function of the gene family in chickens. In this study, we performed genome-wide studies of chicken genes and analyzed their biological and expression characteristics. We identified 13 genes from chickens. Our phylogenetic, motif, and conserved domain analyses indicate that the gene family has remained conserved through evolution. Synteny analysis showed the collinear relationship among s, which indicated that they had related biomolecular functions. Interaction network analysis revealed that s worked with 20 genes in biological processes. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis showed that was involved in Apelin and Forkhead Box O (FOXO) signaling pathways. Moreover, qPCR showed that 13 genes were expressed in the nine selected tissues and displayed various gene expression patterns in chickens. RNA-seq showed that and genes were differentially expressed in the normal and high-fat diet fed groups, and , , , , , , and genes were differentially expressed between undifferentiated and differentiated chicken preadipocytes. Besides, RNA-seq also showed that genes displayed different expression patterns in muscle at 11 and 16 embryonic days old, and in 1-day-old chickens. These results indicated that the genes were involved in the development of muscle and fat in chickens. Our findings provide some valuable reference points for the subsequent study of the function of genes.