Abstract
BackgroundHigh concentrations of atmospheric ammonia are one of the key environmental stressors affecting broiler production performance, which causes remarkable economic losses as well as potential welfare problems of the broiler industry. Previous reports demonstrated that high levels of ammonia altered body fat distribution and meat quality of broilers. However, the molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways in breast muscle altered by high concentrations of ambient ammonia exposure on broilers are still unknown.ResultsThis study utilized RNA-Seq to compare the transcriptomes of breast muscles to identify differentially enriched genes in broilers exposed to high and low concentrations of atmospheric ammonia. A total of 267 promising candidate genes were identified by differential expression analysis, among which 67 genes were up-regulated and 189 genes were down-regulated. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that the up and down-regulation of these genes were involved in the following two categories of cellular pathways and metabolisms: Steroid biosynthesis (gga00100) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway (gga03320), which both participated in the lipid metabolism processes.ConclusionsThis study suggests that longtime exposure to high concentrations of aerial ammonia can change fat content in breast muscle, meat quality and palatability via altering expression level of genes participating in important lipid metabolism pathways. These findings have provided novel insights into our understanding of molecular mechanisms of breast muscles exposed to ammonia in broilers. This study provides new information that could be used for genetic breeding and nutritional intervention in production practice of broilers industry in the future.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-2961-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
High concentrations of atmospheric ammonia are one of the key environmental stressors affecting broiler production performance, which causes remarkable economic losses as well as potential welfare problems of the broiler industry
High level ammonia exposure decreased the expression of SLC27A1 leading to negative effects to adipogenesis in breast muscles may through similar mechanisms provided by Wu et al In this study, a high level of ammonia exposure decreased the expression of CD36, ACSL1 and SLC27A1 blocking fat deposition, which is in agreement with the results of above mentioned research
The present transcriptome analysis has demonstrated that exposure to high concentrations of aerial ammonia leads to differential abundances of a number of genes (CD36, ASB2, ACSL1, PLIN2 and etc.) in breast muscles of broilers
Summary
High concentrations of atmospheric ammonia are one of the key environmental stressors affecting broiler production performance, which causes remarkable economic losses as well as potential welfare problems of the broiler industry. Previous reports demonstrated that high levels of ammonia altered body fat distribution and meat quality of broilers. The molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways in breast muscle altered by high concentrations of ambient ammonia exposure on broilers are still unknown. The levels of ammonia in broiler houses usually exceed 25 ppm, and even go high up to 80 ppm, when poultry are confined in buildings provided with artificial heat and ventilation (especially in cold winter of northern China) [3]. Few detailed studies have been conducted on the breast muscle tissue response to ammonia exposure in poultry
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