Project description:The amount of energy that can be extracted from a diet varies between individuals. Apparent Metabolizable Energy (AME) is a measure of energy utilization efficiency and represents the difference between the energy consumed and the energy lost via the excreta. There are significant differences in the energy utilization capability of individual birds that have a similar genetic background and are raised under identical conditions. We analyzed duodenal gene expression and microbiota differences between birds with different efficiencies in food to energy conversion using microarrays and sequencing of 16s rRNA genes. Differences were found in duodenal gene expression between high and low AME birds, they were however mostly related to genes of unknown function. The flock of 96 chickens was used to study ability of the bird to utilise the energy from feed. We measured energy content in feed and in excreta of individually housed birds. The microarrays were used to compare expression between the best and worst energy utilisers.
Project description:The amount of energy that can be extracted from a diet varies between individuals. Apparent Metabolizable Energy (AME) is a measure of energy utilization efficiency and represents the difference between the energy consumed and the energy lost via the excreta. There are significant differences in the energy utilization capability of individual birds that have a similar genetic background and are raised under identical conditions. We analyzed duodenal gene expression and microbiota differences between birds with different efficiencies in food to energy conversion using microarrays and sequencing of 16s rRNA genes. Differences were found in duodenal gene expression between high and low AME birds, they were however mostly related to genes of unknown function.
Project description:H5N1 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has been spreading to Asia, Eurasia and African coutries. An original or six of recombinant H5N1 subtype influenza viruses with varying survivability were infected to chickens for elucidating genes correlated with pathogenicity.
Project description:H5N1 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has been spreading to Asia, Eurasia and African coutries. An original or six of recombinant H5N1 subtype influenza viruses with varying survivability were infected to chickens for elucidating genes correlated with pathogenicity. Two chickens were infected with each 10^6EID50/ head virus intranasally, and their lung was collected from infected chicken at 24 hours after infection.
Project description:Relative expression levels of mRNAs in chicken cecal epithelia experimentally infected with Eimeria tenella were measured at 4.5 days post-infection. Two weeks old chickens were uninfected (negative control) or were orally inoculated with sporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella. Cecal epithelia samples were collected from >12 birds in infected or uninfected group at 4.5 d following infections, in which samples from 4 birds were pooled together to form a total 3 biological replicates in each group. Parasite merozoites were also collected from four infected chickens at 5 d after infections. Uninfected control samples, merozoites and infection group samples were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We used Affymetrix GeneChip chicken genome arrays to detail the chicken cecal epithelia gene expression in the control and E. tenella-infected birds.
Project description:Since the molecular mechanism underlying feed efficiency (FE) in slow-growing chickens is poorly understood. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the proteome differences and possible pathways associated with FE in male slow-growing chicken by using a label-free quantitative proteomic approach. At 10 weeks of ages duodenum samples from six animals (three high-FE and three low-FE chickens) were collected for differential abundant proteins (DAPs), protein networks, functional enrichment and pathway analysis. In this study, we found 40 DAPs significantly associated with FE pathways included glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, peroxisome, oxidative phosphorylation, tight junction, and cysteine and methionine metabolism. Thus, the differences of protein driving those pathways affected the FE potential of slow-growing chicken might be interesting candidate biomarkers for genomic selection of animals with a higher efficient feed utilization.
Project description:Global transcriptional responses in duodenal intestinal epithelia of chickens following primary and secondary Eimeria acervulina infections.
Project description:Relative expression levels of mRNAs in chicken cecal epithelia experimentally infected with Eimeria tenella were measured at 4.5 days post-infection. Two weeks old chickens were uninfected (negative control) or were orally inoculated with sporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella. Cecal epithelia samples were collected from >12 birds in infected or uninfected group at 4.5 d following infections, in which samples from 4 birds were pooled together to form a total 3 biological replicates in each group. Parasite merozoites were also collected from four infected chickens at 5 d after infections. Uninfected control samples, merozoites and infection group samples were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We used Affymetrix GeneChip chicken genome arrays to detail the chicken cecal epithelia gene expression in the control and E. tenella-infected birds. Infected, uninfected chicken cecal epithelia and merozoites were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization with Affymetrix microarrays. Our goal was to analyze global transcriptome changes in chicken cecal mucous membranes in response to E. tenella infection in vivo. We used infected (T1,T2,T3; three biological replicates) and uninfected (Neg1, Neg2, Neg3; three biological replicates) samples to identify genes that were differentially expressed. Meanwhile, RNA and probes were also prepared from parasite merozoites (Mzt) from infected samples (Mzt) and used as an additional control in microarray hybridization.