Full-length transcriptome sequencing of seven tissues of GuShi chickens

Poult Sci. 2024 Dec 19;104(2):104697. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2024.104697. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Chickens are vital economic poultry and serve as exemplary models for avian research. The incomplete reference genome of chickens and the limited availability of full-length cDNA impede the identification of alternatively spliced transcripts, thereby delaying many fundamental chicken studies. We utilized PacBio Iso-seq technology on various chicken tissues, obtaining 170,162 full-length transcripts through comprehensive transcriptome sequencing and annotation. Of the identified transcripts, 38,925 lncRNAs were predicted and categorized into five models. Our data significantly increases the known number of chickens' lncRNAs and alternatively spliced transcripts are crucial in enhancing current genome annotations. Furthermore, this data will be invaluable for functional studies of other avian species.

Keywords: Alternative splicing; Full-length transcript; Fusion gene; transcript structure.