Abstract
Molting in birds provides us with an ideal genetic model for understanding aging and rejuvenation since birds present younger characteristics for reproduction and appearance after molting. Forced molting (FM) by fasting in chickens causes aging of their reproductive system and then promotes cell redevelopment by providing water and feed again. To reveal the genetic mechanism of rejuvenation, we detected blood hormone indexes and gene expression levels in the hypothalamus and ovary of hens from five different periods during FM. Three hormones were identified as participating in FM. Furthermore, the variation trends of gene expression levels in the hypothalamus and ovary at five different stages were found to be basically similar using transcriptome analysis. Among them, 45 genes were found to regulate cell aging during fasting stress and 12 genes were found to promote cell development during the recovery period in the hypothalamus. In addition, five hub genes (INO80D, HELZ, AGO4, ROCK2, and RFX7) were identified by WGCNA. FM can restart the reproductive function of aged hens by regulating expression levels of genes associated with aging and development. Our study not only enriches the theoretical basis of FM but also provides insights for the study of antiaging in humans and the conception mechanism in elderly women.
Highlights
Molting is a natural and energy-demanding life history process of birds for adaptation to complex environmental changes [1]
Serological Indices between Two Periods in the Five Forced molting (FM) Periods To explore the trend in variation of related serological indexes in chickens during FM, we tested seven serological indices, namely thyroxine (T4), progesterone (PROG), estrogen (E), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), calcitonin (CT), and growth hormone (GH), by ELISA [37] (Table S1)
The results showed there were more differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the three periods 1-vs-2, 2-vs-3, and 3-vs-5 than in other periods, while the reversible biological process of cell aging and redevelopment existed in the two periods 2-vs-3 and 3-vs-5
Summary
Molting is a natural and energy-demanding life history process of birds for adaptation to complex environmental changes [1]. It usually takes 14–16 weeks to complete the molting process, and the egg-laying rate (ELR) gradually decreases under natural conditions in chickens. Forced molting (FM) usually requires only 4 weeks to complete. FM can achieve centralized and unified molting over a short period of time, which is convenient for production management and can improve the ELR and egg quality after molting. To shorten molting time and improve economic benefits, laying hens are often subjected to FM [2]
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