Project description:Proteomic analysis was performed on the proximal tibia head from healhty and BCO-affected broiler (meat-type) chickens using Bruker Daltonics amaZon series Mass Spectrometer. This analysis was undertaken to identify key protein signature involved in BCO, a common cause of lameness.
Project description:As an essential micronutrient for animals, vitamin E plays crucial physiological roles in reproduction, antioxidant and immune functions, and lipid metabolism. The objective of this study was to reveal molecular mechanism of vitamin E on intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition through transcriptome sequencing of pectoral muscle in broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-day-old health female chicks were randomly allocated into five dietary treatments with each treatment six replicates. The birds were fed basal diet supplemented with 0 and 100 IU/kg vitamin E in the form of DL-α-tocopheryl acetate, respectively. The body weight, carcass performance and IMF content were measured. Transcriptome profile of pectoral muscle in 35-day-old chickens were sequencing from the control and 100 IU/kg vitamin E treatment. Functional enrichment analyzes of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) based on Gene ontology (GO), KEGG pathway and bio function, and network were performed. Results shown that IMF content of broiler chickens were significantly increased at 12.89% (P < 0.05) between 100 IU/kg vitamin E treatment and control. Transcriptome sequencing results for pectoralis major muscle of 100 IU vitamin E-supplemented and the control groups identified 57 up-regulated and 102 down-regulated DEGs. These DEGs were significantly enriched (FDR corrected P-value < 0.05) in 13 of 236 GO terms involved in muscle development- and lipid metabolism. Pathway functional enrichment analysis revealed that the DEGs were significantly enriched in three signalling pathways (FDR corrected P-value < 0.05). Two of them, MAPK signaling pathway and FoxO signaling pathway, play key roles in muscular and lipid metabolism. It is worth mentioning that 46 DEGs were significantly enriched in 28 skeletal and muscular system development and function categories and 31 DEGs were significantly enriched in 17 lipid metabolism function categories. Moreover, three lipid metabolism and muscular development-related networks of DEGs were also identified. These DEGEs, pathways, function categories and networks identified in this study provide us new insights for the vitamin E regulation of the IMF deposition in broiler chickens.
Project description:Gene expression profiling of male broiler chickens exposed to APEC O1. Comparisons were made between Day 1 and Day 5 of all treatment groups, between differences in pathology and effect of vaccine on spleen gene expression. The goal was to determine expression differences that could convey genetic resistance to APEC O1.
Project description:The process of commercial catching, transport and slaughter (CTS) is known to be an acute stressful event in broiler chickens. Corticosteroid concentrations increase, impacting measures of IGF-1, growth hormone and metabolites of the immune system from blood plasma samples. We used ARK-Genomics chicken 20K oligo array, a two channel DNA microarray, to investigate the significantly differentially expressed genes in the livers of chickens during CTS.
Project description:Subclinical necrotic enteritis (SNE) is one of the serious threats to the poultry industry. Probiotics have been proven to exert the beneficial effects in controlling SNE. However, the exact mechanisms of probiotics have not been fully elucidated, and few researchs have focused on their impact on miRNAs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the miRNA expression profles in the ileum of broiler chickens during probiotic supplement treatment for SNE. 180 newly hatched male chicks were randomly allocated in three groups, including negative control group(NC), SNE infection group(PC) and Bacillus licheniformis H2 pre-treatment group (BL). Illumina high-throughput sequencing was conducted to identify the miRNA expression of three groups. The results showed that 628 miRNAs, including 582 known miRNAs and 46 novel miRNAs, were detected in libraries. The target genes of 57 significantly differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted and annotated, which were found to partly enrich in pathways related to immunity and inflammation such as tumor necrosis factor receptor binding, immune response-regulating signaling pathway, activation of NF-kappaB-inducing kinase activity, interleukin-15 production, Toll-like receptor 2 signaling pathway and MAP kinase tyrosine/serine/threonine phosphatase activity. Our results provided comprehensive miRNA expression profles of these three different treatment groups. And these findings suggested that H2 could exert beneficial effects in controlling SNE may through immune and inflammatory response associated to altered miRNA expression.
Project description:This study investigates the impact of stress on muscle physiology and meat quality in broiler chickens by comparing protein expression profiles between organic and conventional farming systems using label-free quantitative (LFQ) proteomics. Muscle samples were analyzed via nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS coupled with comprehensive bioinformatics to identify differences in protein abundance associated with rearing conditions.A total of 7,221 proteins were identified, with 1,645 proteins upregulated and 1,612 downregulated in organic chickens compared to conventional ones. Functional analyses including Gene Ontology (GO) and STRING network analyses revealed that proteins upregulated in organic chickens were predominantly involved in oxygen transport, oxygen binding, and muscle structural organization, indicating enhanced oxygen metabolism and muscle development consistent with improved animal welfare. Conversely, proteins related to ribosomal function and RNA binding were enriched in conventional chickens, suggesting stress-related alterations in protein synthesis. KEGG pathway analysis showed significant enrichment of carbon metabolism, amino acid biosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism, and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle pathways in organic chickens, while glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and ribosomal pathways were downregulated. Key differentially expressed proteins identified as potential biomarkers distinguishing organic from conventional meat include downregulated PGM1, AMPD1, LDHA, ENO3, and PKLR, and upregulated COL1A1, COL1A2, TTN, TPM2, CA3, MB, HSPB1, ACO2, ACAA2, and TF. These proteins are involved in muscle structure and energy metabolism and may serve as indicators of meat quality linked to stress and welfare conditions. Overall, this proteomic analysis provides novel insights into how stress modulates the muscle proteome in broiler chickens and supports the adoption of welfare-focused organic poultry production practices to improve meat quality.