Abstract
BackgroundThe meat quality of yellow feathered broilers is better than the quality of its production. Growth traits are important in the broiler industry. The exploration of regulation mechanisms for the skeletal muscle would help to increase the growth performance of chickens. At present, some progress has been made by researchers, but the molecular mechanisms of the skeletal muscle still remain unclear and need to be improved.MethodsIn this study, the breast muscles of fast- and slow-growing female Jinghai yellow chickens (F4F, F8F, F4S, F8S) and slow-growing male Jinghai yellow chickens (M4S, M8S) aged four and eight weeks were selected for transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq). All analyses of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and functional enrichment were performed. Finally, we selected nine DEGs to verify the accuracy of the sequencing by qPCR.ResultsThe differential gene expression analysis resulted in 364, 219 and 111 DEGs (adjusted P-value ≤ 0.05) for the three comparison groups, F8FvsF4F, F8SvsF4S, and M8SvsM4S, respectively. Three common DEGs (ADAMTS20, ARHGAP19, and Novel00254) were found, and they were all highly expressed at four weeks of age. In addition, some other genes related to growth and development, such as ANXA1, COL1A1, MYH15, TGFB3 and ACTC1, were obtained. The most common DEGs (n = 58) were found between the two comparison groups F8FvsF4F and F8SvsF4S, and they might play important roles in the growth of female chickens. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway also showed some significant enrichment pathways, for instance, extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, cell cycle, and DNA replication. The two pathways that were significantly enriched in the F8FvsF4F group were all contained in that of F8SvsF4S. The same two pathways were ECM–receptor interaction and focal adhesion, and they had great influence on the growth of chickens. However, many differences existed between male and female chickens in regards to common DEGs and KEGG pathways. The results would help to reveal the regulation mechanism of the growth and development of chickens and serve as a guideline to propose an experimental design on gene function with the DEGs and pathways.
Highlights
Chicken contains a variety of nutrients and is suitable for different kinds of people (Zhang et al, 2019a)
The results (Table 1) showed that there were significant differences among the three comparison groups at different weeks of age (P < 0.01), illustrating that the growth rate of Jinghai yellow chickens was faster during a four-week period
There were three common differentially expressed genes (DEGs): ADAMTS20, ARHGAP19, Novel00254, and they were all highly expressed at four weeks of age
Summary
Chicken contains a variety of nutrients and is suitable for different kinds of people (Zhang et al, 2019a). The growth rate, muscle yield, and feed efficiency of yellow feathered broilers are all inadequate compared with white feathered broilers These performances still have great potential to be improved in yellow feathered broilers. The differential gene expression analysis resulted in 364, 219 and 111 DEGs (adjusted P-value ≤ 0.05) for the three comparison groups, F8FvsF4F, F8SvsF4S, and M8SvsM4S, respectively. The most common DEGs (n = 58) were found between the two comparison groups F8FvsF4F and F8SvsF4S, and they might play important roles in the growth of female chickens. The results would help to reveal the regulation mechanism of the growth and development of chickens and serve as a guideline to propose an experimental design on gene function with the DEGs and pathways
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