The study suggests that Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) may play an important role in the development of bovine adipose tissue in vivo. To investigate the differential mRNA expression between bovine intramuscular (IM) preadipocytes (BIPs) and subcutaneous (SC) preadipocytes (BSPs), conventional collagenasebased procedures were modified to harvest preadipocytes from the longissimus dorsi muscle and SC adipose tissue of Luxi cattle, respectively. The time-spatial expression of SIRT1 and associated genes, such as forkhead box O1(FoxO1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ),insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1), glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase(GAPDH), and leptin, during bovine preadipocyte differentiation were investigated using real-time quantitative PCR. The intracellular triglyceride concentration of BSPs increased more dramatically than that of BIPs during cell differentiation. The expression of SIRT1 and other genes occurred in the BSPs and BIPs during differentiation indicating that different mechanisms underlie the adipogenesis of BSPs and BIPs, and that the BSPs cultured in vitro show a higher differentiation capacity than BIPs.