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. 2018 Aug 27;8(1):12903.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-31072-7.

Transcriptional shifts account for divergent resource allocation in feed efficient broiler chickens

Henry Reyer  1 , Barbara U Metzler-Zebeli  2 , Nares Trakooljul  1 , Michael Oster  1 , Eduard Muráni  1 , Siriluck Ponsuksili  1 , Frieder Hadlich  1 , Klaus Wimmers  3   4
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Transcriptional shifts account for divergent resource allocation in feed efficient broiler chickens

Henry Reyer et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Considerable variation in feed efficiency (FE) has been observed in indigenous and selected meat-type chicken populations. Although this variation could be partially linked to extrinsic factors like diet, housing environment and microbiota, it further illustrates the existence of strong molecular mechanisms enabling the differential allocation of resources for various physiological processes. To further deepen the molecular basis of individual allocation capacity in male and female broilers, an RNA-seq experiment was conducted which based on a phenotyped chicken population divergent in FE. Transcriptional differences linked to FE were pronounced in intestinal and muscular tissue sites of male animals. Specifically, signalling pathways of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR) might contribute to mediate individual FE. The transcriptional profiles suggested ACSBG2 (muscular lipid utilisation), ASBT (intestinal bile salt transport), CLEC2B (natural killer cell activation), HMGCS2 (jejunal, duodenal and muscular ketogenesis), and SCARB1 (jejunal lipid uptake) as potential mediators driving FE. Results indicate that improvements in FE exploit shifts in resource allocation which might occur at the expense of general immune responsiveness in high efficient male chickens. Consequently, to further improve FE traits and to explore causative molecular patterns, effects originating from sex-dimorphism in chickens need to be taken into consideration.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of differentially abundant transcripts (bottom left) and intersections of transcripts (upper right) identified by RNA-seq for divergent feed efficiency in and between different tissues for male and female broilers. Overlapping genes between different tissues are indicated by connected dots.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Validation of RNA-seq results by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) of selected transcripts. Fold changes between experimental groups in qPCR are plotted against values obtained from RNA-seq. The Pearson correlation coefficient is represented by R2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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