Transcriptome analysis of post-hatch breast muscle in legacy and modern broiler chickens reveals enrichment of several regulators of myogenic growth

PLoS One. 2015 Mar 30;10(3):e0122525. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122525. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Agriculture provides excellent model systems for understanding how selective pressure, as applied by humans, can affect the genomes of plants and animals. One such system is modern poultry breeding in which intensive genetic selection has been applied for meat production in the domesticated chicken. As a result, modern meat-type chickens (broilers) exhibit enhanced growth, especially of the skeletal muscle, relative to their legacy counterparts. Comparative studies of modern and legacy broiler chickens provide an opportunity to identify genes and pathways affected by this human-directed evolution. This study used RNA-seq to compare the transcriptomes of a modern and a legacy broiler line to identify differentially enriched genes in the breast muscle at days 6 and 21 post-hatch. Among the 15,945 genes analyzed, 10,841 were expressed at greater than 0.1 RPKM. At day 6 post-hatch 189 genes, including several regulators of myogenic growth and development, were differentially enriched between the two lines. The transcriptional profiles between lines at day 21 post-hatch identify 193 genes differentially enriched and still include genes associated with myogenic growth. This study identified differentially enriched genes that regulate myogenic growth and differentiation between the modern and legacy broiler lines. Specifically, differences in the ratios of several positive (IGF1, IGF1R, WFIKKN2) and negative (MSTN, ACE) myogenic growth regulators may help explain the differences underlying the enhanced growth characteristics of the modern broilers.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Chickens*
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Muscle Development / genetics*
  • Oviposition
  • Pectoralis Muscles / cytology
  • Pectoralis Muscles / growth & development*
  • Pectoralis Muscles / innervation
  • Pectoralis Muscles / metabolism*
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Sequence Analysis, RNA
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • RNA, Messenger

Associated data

  • GEO/GSE65217

Grants and funding

This project was supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant 2011-67003-30228 from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture received by CJS, SJL, MFR, MEP and CMA. Activities at Iowa State University were also supported by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, State of Iowa and Hatch funding received by SJL and MFR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.