Ovine adipose tissue monounsaturated fat content is correlated to depot-specific expression of the stearoyl-CoA desaturase gene.

The basis for the variation in fatty acid composition in different ovine adipose tissue depots was investigated. The proportion of stearic (C18:0) and oleic (C18:1) acids vary in a site-specific fashion; abdominal depots (omental and perirenal) contain relatively more C18:0 than C18:1, and carcass depots, especially sternum, have a markedly higher proportion of C18:1. Addition- ally, expression of a number of lipogenic enzyme genes (stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), acetyl-CoA carboxyl- ase-α (ACC-α), lipoprotein lipase (LPL)) and the cy- toskeletal protein gene α-tubulin vary among depots, although the pattern of variation differs for each mRNA. When these expression data were related to the mean cell volume of adipocytes pooled from all depots, a significant pattern emerged: expression of the ACC- α, LPL, and α-tubulin genes was highly correlated with