Evolution, Expression Profile, Regulatory Mechanism, and Functional Verification of EBP-Like Gene in Cholesterol Biosynthetic Process in Chickens (Gallus Gallus).

The emopamil binding protein (EBP) is an important enzyme participating in the final steps of cholesterol biosynthesis in mammals. A predictive gene , which encodes the protein with a high identity to human EBP, was found in chicken genome. No regulatory mechanisms and biological functions of have been characterized in chickens. In the present study, the coding sequence of was cloned, the phylogenetic trees of EBP/EBP-like were constructed and the genomic synteny of was analyzed. The regulatory mechanism of were explored with and experiments. The biological functions of in liver cholesterol biosynthetic were examined by using gain- or loss-of-function strategies. The results showed that chicken gene was originated from a common ancestral with Japanese quail gene, and was relatively conservative with gene among different species. The gene was highly expressed in liver, its expression level was significantly increased in peak-laying stage, and was upregulated by estrogen. Inhibition of the mRNA expression could restrain the expressions of downstream genes (, , and ) in the cholesterol synthetic pathway, therefore downregulate the liver intracellular T-CHO level. In conclusion, as substitute of gene in chickens, plays a vital role in the process of chicken liver cholesterol synthesis. This research provides a basis for revealing the molecular regulatory mechanism of cholesterol synthesis in birds, contributes insights into the improvement of the growth and development, laying performance and egg quality in poultry.