Identification of differential duodenal gene expression levels and microbiota abundance correlated with differences in energy utilisation in chickens

Abstract

Abstract. Among the terrestrial production animals, chickens are the most efficient users of energy. Apparent metabolisable energy (AME) is a measure of energy utilisation efficiency representing the difference between energy consumed and energy lost via the excreta. There are significant differences in the energy utilisation capability of individual birds that have a similar genetic background and are raised under identical conditions. It would be of benefit to poultry producers if the basis of these differences could be understood and the differences minimised. We analysed duodenal gene expression and microbiota differences in birds with different energy utilisation efficiencies. Using microarray analysis, significant differences were found in duodenal gene expression between high-and low-AME birds, indicating that level of cell turnover may distinguish different groups of birds. High-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes indicated that duodenal microbiota was dominated by Lactobacillus species and two operational taxonomic units, identified as lactobacilli species, were found to be more abundant (P < 0.05) in low-AME birds. The present study has identified gene expression and microbiota properties that correlate with differences in AME; further studies will be required to investigate the causal relationships.

Intestinal microbiota profiles associated with low and high residual feed intake in chickens across two geographical locations

“…When comparing the relative microbiota composition between RFI ranks, separately for females and males, only the Lactobacillus genus and two Lactobacillus crispatus -OTUs in feces were indicative for high RFI in females at both geographical locations. Moreover, the relative abundances of the two Lactobacillus crispatus -OTUs in cecal digesta and feces were also indicative for low TBWG and high FCR values, respectively, again only in females, thereby confirming previous findings [ 30 , 33 ]. Lactobacillus have been shown the ability to activate both innate defense mechanisms and adaptive immune responses in chicken’s intestine [ 29 , 36 , 37 ].…”

“…Because different selection strategies for FE (e.g. FCR, AME or RFI) were previously applied [ 5 , 7 , 8 , 30 ], this may have contributed to the inter-study variation in FE-associated bacterial taxa. This assumption is supported by findings in cattle where correlations between efficiency parameters and bacterial genera abundances differed depending on the FE metric used (i.e., FCR vs. RFI) [ 31 ].…”

Fecal Microbiota Transplant from Highly Feed-Efficient Donors Shows Little Effect on Age-Related Changes in Feed-Efficiency-Associated Fecal Microbiota from Chickens

“…Moreover, L. salivarius and Lactobacillus agilis may enhance intestinal butyrate production, which may be beneficial for intestinal health via cross-feeding, as shown for an in vitro-simulated chicken cecum (22). Nevertheless, inconsistent findings were reported for the association between lactobacilli and FE in chickens (7,8,23,24), which may be due to particularities in experimental design, microbiota composition, diet, and the intestinal site investigated. When correlating individual RFI values with bacterial abundances in feces at 29 dph, the results indicated that RFI associations existed with other low-abundance phylotypes (relative abundances of 0.09 to 0.18% at 29 dph).…”

Peer Review #1 of "Sorghum and wheat differentially affect caecal microbiota and associated performance characteristics of meat chickens (v0.1)"

“…Contrary to the latter two studies, bacterial phylotypes related to L. crispatus along with two other Lactobacillus species, were linked to low avian growth performance (Torok et al 2011). Also, Konsak et al (2013) found that an OTU which was most closely related to L.…”