The effect of Bacillus coagulans ZJU0616 with different concentrations supplemented as probiotic was evaluated on growth performance, feed conversion ratio, survival rate, breast chemical composition, and meat quality of Guangxi Yellow chicken. Birds were randomly segregated into 12 groups so that 3 replicates were available for each of the 3 treatments (T-1, T-2, and T-3) and control groups. The control groups were fed a basal diet without any probiotic and other groups were fed the diets that consisted of 3 probiotic levels at initial concentrations of 1.0 x 10(6) cfu.g(-1) (T-1), 2.0 x 10(6) cfu.g(-1) (T-2), and 5.0 x 10(6) cfu.g(-1) (T-3). The lowest final weight and daily weight gain were found in control groups (P < 0.05) and there were no significant differences among probiotic-treated groups. Significantly lower feed conversion ratio and higher survival rate were observed in T-2 and T-3 than that of the control. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in contents of breast chemical composition including moisture, CP, crude fat, and crude ash among all groups. For the meat quality parameter assays, the pH, shear force, and drip loss were used as indicators. As for pH values of breasts, no significant difference was found across all treatments. Higher shear force was observed (P < 0.05) in T-2 compared with T-1 and the control. Similar significant difference was also observed in T-1 compared with the control. However, there was no significant difference in shear force between T-3 and the other probiotic treatment groups (T-1 and T-2). As for probiotic-treated groups, there was significant difference (P < 0.05) in breast drip loss compared with that of the control (6.22 +/- 0.18%), with the lowest drip loss found in T-3 (5.38 +/- 0.25%). However, no significant difference was observed in drip loss between T-2 and T-3.

Social caste determination in the honey bee is assumed to be determined by the dietary status of the young larvae and translated into physiological and epigenetic changes through nutrient-sensing pathways. We have employed Illumina/Solexa sequencing to examine the small RNA content in the bee larval food, and show that worker jelly is enriched in miRNA complexity and abundance relative to royal jelly. The miRNA levels in worker jelly were 7–215 fold higher than in royal jelly, and both jellies showed dynamic changes in miRNA content during the 4th to 6th day of larval development. Adding specific miRNAs to royal jelly elicited significant changes in queen larval mRNA expression and morphological characters of the emerging adult queen bee. We propose that miRNAs in the nurse bee secretions constitute an additional element in the regulatory control of caste determination in the honey bee.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small non-coding RNAs regulating gene expression in animals and plants. To find some differentially expressed miRNAs that may be associated with age-dependent behavioural changes in honey bees (Apis mellifera), we applied next-generation high-throughput sequencing technology to detect small RNAs in nurses and foragers. Our results showed that both nurses and foragers had a complicated small RNA population, and the length of small RNAs varied, 22 nucleotides being the predominant length. Combining deep sequencing and bioinformatic analysis, we discovered that nine known miRNAs were significantly different between nurses and foragers (P < 0.01; absolute value of fold-change ≥ 1). Some of their target genes were related to neural function. Moreover, 67 novel miRNAs were identified in nurses and foragers. Ame-miR-31a and ame-miR-13b were further validated using quantitative reverse-transcription PCR assays. The present study provides new information on the miRNA abundance of honey bees, and enhances our understanding of miRNA function in the regulation of honey bee development.

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