“…However, it has been well documented that heat-killed probiotic bacteria and probioticderived products, including chromosomal DNA, cell wall components, and soluble metabolites, have the capacity to regulate local mucosal and systemic immune responses (Corthésy, Gaskins, & Mercenier, 2007;Giahi, Elmadfa, Hoseini, & Klein, 2013;Jensen, Cash, Farmer, & Keller, 2017;Lee et al, 2016;O'Flaherty, Saulnier, Pot, & Versalovic, 2010;Sanchez, Urdaci, & Margolles, 2010). We previously reported that both viable and heat-inactivated L. rhamnosus MLGA significantly promoted AvBD9 expression in chicken intestinal epithelial cells (Li et al, 2012). Based on this observation, in this study, we further investigated the specific bacterial components of the probiotic bacteria, L. rhamnosus MLGA, that was responsible for the induction of AvBD9 expression and delineated the mechanism by which L. rhamnosus MLGA and its components regulated the expression of the antimicrobial peptide AvBD9.…”