biostudies-literatureWei WMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People&apos;s Republic of ChinaAgriculture Research System of China106521https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12919248biostudies-literatureUnknown105(4)Excessive accumulation of abdominal fat (AF) reduces feed efficiency and carcass yield, posing a significant challenge to the poultry industry. However, the molecular network underlying age-dependent AF development remains unclear, despite some recent progress. In this study, we quantified the abdominal adipocyte area and sequenced 20 AF transcriptomes from eight 9-week-old (9 W) and twelve 20-week-old (20 W) Wannan chickens. The abdominal adipocyte area increased significantly at 20 W compared with 9 W (p < 0.001). Differentially expressed gene analysis between the two age groups revealed 235 up-regulated and 206 down-regulated genes in the 20 W. Enrichment analysis revealed the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, cell adhesion molecules, TGF-beta signaling pathway, and biological proPoultry scienceTranscriptomic analysis identifies hub genes involved in age-dependent abdominal fat development in chickens.PMC12919248CARS-41Li CChen ZGuo XHuang NJiang RWei WWang HJiao JZhang CfalseTranscriptomic analysis identifies hub genes involved in age-dependent abdominal fat development in chickens.Excessive accumulation of abdominal fat (AF) reduces feed efficiency and carcass yield, posing a significant challenge to the poultry industry. However, the molecular network underlying age-dependent AF development remains unclear, despite some recent progress. In this study, we quantified the abdominal adipocyte area and sequenced 20 AF transcriptomes from eight 9-week-old (9 W) and twelve 20-week-old (20 W) Wannan chickens. The abdominal adipocyte area increased significantly at 20 W compared with 9 W (p < 0.001). Differentially expressed gene analysis between the two age groups revealed 235 up-regulated and 206 down-regulated genes in the 20 W. Enrichment analysis revealed the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, cell adhesion molecules, TGF-beta signaling pathway, and biological pro2026-01-01T00:00:00Z2026 Jan2026-07-16T07:51:36.905Z2026-07-09T10:46:06.594ZS-EPMC129192484164343410.1016/j.psj.2026.106521