title: Cell Biology Symposium: feed efficiency: mitochondrial function to global gene expression.
abstract: Understanding the cellular basis of feed efficiency (FE) is instrumental to helping poultry and livestock industries continue to provide high-quality protein for an increasingly crowded world. To understand relationships of FE and gene expression, global RNA transcription was investigated in breast muscle obtained from a male broiler line fed the same diet and individually phenotyped for FE. In these studies, RNA samples obtained from broilers that exhibited either high FE (0.65 ± 0.01) or low FE (0.46 ± 0.01) were analyzed with an Agilent 44K chicken oligoarray. A 1.3-fold cutoff in expression (30% difference between groups) resulted in 782 genes that were differentially expressed (P < 0.05) in muscle between the high- and low-FE phenotypes. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis, an online software program, was used to identify genes, gene networks, and pathways associated with the phenotypic expression of FE. The results indicate that the high-FE phenotype exhibited increased expression of genes associated with 1) signal transduction pathways, 2) anabolic activities, and 3) energy-sensing and energy coordination activities, all of which would likely be favorable to cell growth and development. In contrast, the low-FE broiler phenotype exhibited upregulation of genes 1) associated with actin-myosin filaments, cytoskeletal architecture, and muscle fibers and 2) stress-related or stress-responsive genes. Because the low-FE broiler phenotype exhibits greater oxidative stress, it would appear that the low-FE phenotype is the product of inherent gene expression that is modulated by oxidative stress. The results of these studies begin to provide a comprehensive picture of gene expression in muscle, a major organ of energy demand in an animal, associated with phenotypic expression of FE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Poultry Science, Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701, USA. wbottje@uark.edu
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bottje
authors.forename: B-W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D010641:Phenotype