Analysis of miRNAs expression in the ileum during broiler chickens against subclinical necrotic enteritis through Bacillus licheniformis H2 supplement
Subclinical necrotic enteritis (SNE) is one of the serious threats to the poultry industry. Probiotics have been proven to exert the beneficial effects in controlling SNE. However, the exact mechanisms of probiotics have not been fully elucidated, and few researchs have focused on their impact on miRNAs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the miRNA expression profles in the ileum of broiler chickens during probiotic supplement treatment for SNE. 180 newly hatched male chicks were randomly allocated in three groups, including negative control group(NC), SNE infection group(PC) and Bacillus licheniformis H2 pre-treatment group (BL). Illumina high-throughput sequencing was conducted to identify the miRNA expression of three groups. The results showed that 628 miRNAs, including 582 known miRNAs and 46 novel miRNAs, were detected in libraries. The target genes of 57 significantly differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted and annotated, which were found to partly enrich in pathways related to immunity and inflammation such as tumor necrosis factor receptor binding, immune response-regulating signaling pathway, activation of NF-kappaB-inducing kinase activity, interleukin-15 production, Toll-like receptor 2 signaling pathway and MAP kinase tyrosine/serine/threonine phosphatase activity. Our results provided comprehensive miRNA expression profles of these three different treatment groups. And these findings suggested that H2 could exert beneficial effects in controlling SNE may through immune and inflammatory response associated to altered miRNA expression. Overall design: The miRNA expression profles in the ileum of broiler chickens during probiotic supplement treatment for SNE