Identification of adipose differentiation-related protein gene in Peking duck and its expression profile in various duck tissues.

Adipose differentiation-related protein (ADRP) is a protein which induced during the early onset of the adipose differentiation program and is expressed at high level in mature adipocytes. In the present study, 1311 bp of ADRP in Peking duck (Anas platyrhynchos) was cloned by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. The cloned sequence of ADRP was highly conserved, although relevant changes with respect to human, mouse and chicken were identified. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to determine if the ADRP was expressed in different tissues of male and female Peking ducks. The expression of ADRP was widely distributed in all examined tissues. The expression level of it was highest in abdominal fat and lowest (only few) in lung of male and female Peking ducks.