Abstract：In recent years, the heart fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) gene was regarded as one candidate gene that affected intra-muscle fat (IMF) deposition, which was generally thought to be a major factor that influences meat quality of livestock. Three of variations (SNP or in/del) in this gene were genotyped in a F2 full sib of Xinhua ×White Recessive Rock reference population, with the purpose of discovering their associations with chicken fatty traits. The expression patterns within different tissues, day-old, genotypes of H-FABP gene were further studied in this study. The results showed that 1) the G+926A polymorphism was highly significantly associated with fat content of breast muscle (P<0.01); 2) the 14 bp in/del was highly significantly associated with body weight at the age of 70 days and 84 days (P<0.01), whereas no associations of this polymorphism with fat traits were observed at significant level; 3) the C+2851T polymorphism was highly significantly associated with fat content of leg muscle (P<0.01). The results of qRT-PCR and Haplotype were consistent with association study, this further suggested that H-FABP gene may be a candidate gene for chicken meat quality traits, such as IMF.
