title: Gut metagenomic analysis reveals prominent roles of Lactobacillus and cecal microbiota in chicken feed efficiency.
abstract: Interactions between the host and gut microbiota can affect gut metabolism. In this study, the individual performances of 252 hens were recorded to evaluate feed efficiency. Hens with contrasting feed efficiencies (14 birds per group) were selected to investigate their duodenal, cecal and fecal microbial composition by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene V4 region. The results showed that the microbial community in the cecum was quite different from those in the duodenum and feces. The highest biodiversity and all differentially abundant taxa between the different efficiency groups were observed in the cecal microbial community with false discovery rate (FDR) <0.05. Of these differentially abundant cecal microbes, Lactobacillus accounted for a greater proportion than the others. The abundances of Lactobacillus and Akkermansia were significantly higher while that of Faecalibacterium was lower (FDR < 0.05) in the better feed efficiency (BFE) group. Phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) analysis revealed that the functions relating to glycometabolism and amino acid metabolism were enriched in the cecal microbiota of the BFE group. These results indicated the prominent role of cecal microbiota in the feed efficiency of chickens and suggested plausible uses of Lactobacillus to improve the feed efficiency of host.
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding and MOA Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding and MOA Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors.forename: Congjiao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding and MOA Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors.forename: Jingwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding and MOA Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D044822:Biodiversity; D002432:Cecum / Q000382:microbiology; D002645:Chickens; D004386:Duodenum / Q000382:microbiology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D056186:Metagenomics; D010641:Phenotype; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S