Cardiac transcriptome study of the effect of heat stress in yellow-feather broilers

Abstract

The yellow-feather broiler is a popular poultry breed in Asia, particularly in China. In this study, we performed RNA-seq analysis to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the heart of yellow-feather broilers that had been subjected to heat stress treatment (38 ± 1 °C for 8 h, over 7 d) and determine the response of the heart to high temperature and its effects on yellow-feather broiler physiology. We found that body weight (BW) of the heat stress treatment group (BW₂₈ = 354.8 ± 34.8 g) was significantly decreased (p = .033) compared with that of the control group (BW₂₈ = 384.8 ± 58.9 g). However, there was no significant reduction in the heart relative weight (HRW) (p = .538). A total of 37 DEGs related to energy metabolism responded to heat stress in the heart of yellow-feather broiler. The results of KEGG pathways analysis indicated that these genes are involved in oxidative phosphorylation (KO: 00190), cardiac muscle contraction (KO: 04260) and carbon metabolism (KO: 01200). Analysis of the cardiac transcriptome of yellow-feather broilers subjected to heat stress indicated that the heart of these birds has specific physiological mechanisms for regulating body growth in response to high-temperature environments.

Highlights

• Yellow-feather broilers, a popular poultry breed in Asia, were used to determine how the heart responds to heat stress.

• A total of 37 genes in the heart of yellow-feather broilers showed differential expression in response to heat stress.

• The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) are associated with oxidative phosphorylation, cardiac muscle contraction and carbon metabolism pathways.

Keywords:

• RNA-seq
• heat stress
• heart
• yellow-feather broiler

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. ZhuoCheng Hou, China Agricultural University, for his advice and review of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

We certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organisation regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Guangdong Ocean University Research System (101402/R17030, CXXL2018148-100101/521201003078), and programme of Guangdong Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding.