Project description:We recently performed global gene expression in the breast muscles of modern broiler and foundation line chickens. In this study, we have peformed miRNA expression analyses in the same tissues to identify muscle specific miRNAs that could be regulatory factors for muscle growth and feed efficiency in chickens.
Project description:Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a zoonotic pathogen that causes human diarrhea worldwide. Chickens are a natural reservoir of C. jejuni. Understanding the host response to C. jejuni infection at the molecular level will lay the foundation to control human campylobacterosis by reducing food contamination. Two distinct genetic lines, resistant (line A) and susceptible (line B) to C. jejuni colonization, were utilized to profile the host response to C. jejuni infection using an Agilent chicken 44K microarray. Day-old chickens were challenged orally with C. jejuni and spleens collected for total RNA 7 days post-challenge. Twenty infected samples with highest (a) or lowest bacterial number (b) in cecal content and twenty non-infected (c) in each line were randomly pooled into four biological replicates. The pair comparisons among these three groups within each line were analyzed. The signal intensity of each gene was normalized using LOWESS method. A mixed model was used to identify differentially expressed genes by SAS (P < 0.001). This was opposite to previous cecal tonsil microarray result. There were 468, 743, and 939 genes differentially expressed between groups a and c, groups a and b, and groups b and c in line A, respectively, and 201, 37, 126 genes in line B, respectively. More differentially expressed genes in spleen in line A than in line B were found. The results indicated that significantly different response to C. jejuni infection occurred between resistant and susceptible chicken lines, and the effects of interaction between genetics and tissue should be considered. Chickens in two broiler lines were inoculated with 10^5 cfu C. jejuni on one day after hatch. The cecal content and cecal tonsil was collected and bacterial number in cecal content was counted on day 7 after inoculation. Twenty samples were separated into 3 groups (high burden, low burden, and control) based on bacterial burden of cecal content in each line, 5 samples were mixed randomly into one pool. A dual color, balanced design was carried on for all samples. Three comparisons were used in each line, non-infected/susceptible, susceptible/resistant, resistant/non-infected, totally, four biological replicates in each line. A Dye swap was used in each pair of comparisons including AN/AS, AS/AR, AR/AN; BN/BS, BS/BR, and BR/BN. Background subtracted signal intensity were collected from 24 arrays and normalized for data analysis.
Project description:Prostate of SD rats was injected with 0.1 ml 1% carrageenan to induce chronic nonbacterial prostatitis, and the control rats injected with sterile saline. Then, the cecal contents were collected for 16S rDNA sequencing.
Project description:Proteomic analysis was performed on the proximal tibia head from healhty and BCO-affected broiler (meat-type) chickens using Bruker Daltonics amaZon series Mass Spectrometer. This analysis was undertaken to identify key protein signature involved in BCO, a common cause of lameness.
Project description:Humans and animals encounter a summation of exposures during their lifetime (the exposome). In recent years, the scope of the exposome has begun to include microplastics. Microplastics (MPs) have increasingly been found in locations where there could be an interaction with Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, one of the commonly isolated serovars from processed chicken. In this study, the microbiota response to a 24-hour co-exposure to Salmonella enterica Typhimurium and/or low-density polyethylene (PE) microplastics in an in vitro broiler cecal model was determined using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing (Illumina) and untargeted metabolomics. Community sequencing results indicated that PE fiber with and without S. Typhimurium yielded a lower Firmicutes/Bacteroides ratio compared to other treatment groups, which is associated with poor gut health, and overall had greater changes to the cecal microbial community composition. However, changes in the total metabolome were primarily driven by the presence of S. Typhimurium. Additionally, the co-exposure to PE Fiber and S. Typhimurium caused greater cecal microbial community and metabolome changes than either exposure alone. Our results indicate that polymer shape is an important factor in effects resulting from exposure. It also demonstrates that microplastic-pathogen interactions cause metabolic alterations to the chicken cecal microbiome in an in vitro chicken cecal model.