1. Fatty acid-binding proteins (FABP) are members of lipid-binding proteins, which participate in the metabolism and intracellular transportation of lipids. This study was designed to investigate the expression patterns, polymorphisms and associations with meat quality traits of the FABP1 gene in pigeons.

2. The temporal-spatial expression patterns showed FABP1 was widely expressed in all eleven tissues from 0–4 weeks of age, the expression level in the liver was the highest, followed by the small intestine and subcutaneous fat.

3. Five novel SNPs were found; all of them were synonymous and in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Association analysis revealed that for the SNP of G161C, the AB and BB genotypes had higher (P ≤ 0.01) inosinic acid concentrations in breast muscle than the AA genotype. The BB genotype showed the highest (P < 0.01) intramuscular fat among the three genotypes, and significantly greater FABP1 mRNA levels were observed in the breast muscle of the BB genotype than in the AA and AB genotypes (P < 0.01). In the SNP C1376T, the AB and BB genotypes showed higher (P < 0.01) intramuscular fat than the AA genotype, and the relative mRNA expression level of the BB (P < 0.01) and AB (P < 0.05) genotypes was higher than that of the AA genotype in breast muscle. Correlation analysis implied that the FABP1 mRNA expression level was closely related to the inosinic acid (P < 0.05) and intramuscular fat content (P < 0.01). Oil red O staining of frozen sections of breast muscle on d 28 for SNPs G161C and C1376T also indicated that the BB genotype had the highest intramuscular fat content in both SNPs. In addition, correlation analysis implied the FABP1 mRNA expression level was closely related to inosinic acid (P < 0.05) and intramuscular fat content (P < 0.01).

4. The results suggested that FABP1 could be a potential candidate gene in marker-assisted selection for breeding pigeons with high-quality meat.

1.脂肪酸结合蛋白（FABP）是脂质结合蛋白的成员，参与脂质的代谢和细胞内运输。本研究旨在调查FABP1基因在鸽子中的表达模式、多态性及其与肉质性状的关联。

2.时空表达模式显示FABP1在0-4周龄的所有11个组织中广泛表达，肝脏中的表达水平最高，其次是小肠和皮下脂肪。

3. 发现5个新的SNP；它们都是同义词并且处于哈代-温伯格平衡中。关联分析显示，对于 G161C 的 SNP，AB 和 BB 基因型在胸肌中的肌苷酸浓度高于 AA 基因型（P ≤ 0.01）。在三种基因型中，BB基因型的肌内脂肪含量最高（P < 0.01），并且在BB基因型的胸肌中FABP1 mRNA水平显着高于AA和AB基因型（P < 0.01）。SNP C1376T中，AB基因型和BB基因型肌内脂肪含量高于AA基因型（P < 0.01），BB基因型（P < 0.01）和AB基因型（P < 0.05）的相对mRNA表达水平高于AA基因型。胸肌中的 AA 基因型。相关分析表明FABP1mRNA表达水平与肌苷酸（P < 0.05）和肌内脂肪含量（P < 0.01）密切相关。SNPs G161C 和 C1376T 在第 28 天对乳房肌肉冷冻切片进行油红 O 染色也表明 BB 基因型在两个 SNPs 中具有最高的肌内脂肪含量。此外，相关分析表明FABP1 mRNA表达水平与肌苷酸（P < 0.05）和肌内脂肪含量（P < 0.01）密切相关。

4、结果表明FABP1可能成为标记辅助选育优质肉鸽的候选基因。