Li Xinghua, Nie Changsheng, Liu Yuchen, Chen Yu, Lv Xueze, Wang Liang, Zhang Jianwei, Yang Weifang, Li Kaiyang, Zheng Chuanwei, Jia Yaxiong, Ning Zhonghua, Qu Lujiang
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
Beijing Municipal General Station of Animal Science, Beijing, China.
Front Genet. 2020 Jan 22;10:1287. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01287. eCollection 2019.
New-born chicks are vulnerable to bacterial infections and not good at regulating body temperature. There is a close relationship between thermal regulation and immunity, however, the underlying mechanism is not well understood. (SP) is a major concern in developing countries and causes significant economic losses in poultry industry. Early body temperature (EBT) has previously shown to be correlated with host immunity and resistance to pullorum disease. In this study, we challenged three independent chick populations (Beijing You, Dwarf and Rhode Island Red) with SP at 4 days of age, and rectal temperature was measured before and after the SP attack from 2 to 7 days of age. Host defense to SP was evaluated by survival and spleen SP carrier status. The results showed that chicks with higher EBT before SP infection tend to have higher resistance to later SP attack in two populations (Dwarf and Beijing You). The association between EBT before SP attack and SP resistance was non-significant in Rohde Island Red population ( = 0.06), but the trend was consistent with the other two populations. We also found low to moderate heritability in all three populations for EBT before and after the SP attack ranging from 0.14 to 0.20. Genome-wide association studies identified several genomic regions and biological pathways determining EBT before SP attack, which provides candidate functional genes of this trait. Our results reveal the genetic determination of EBT, and the relationship between EBT and SP resistance, providing an alternative strategy for improving SP resistant activities in chicken.
新生雏鸡易受细菌感染，且不善于调节体温。然而，体温调节与免疫力之间存在密切关系，但其潜在机制尚不清楚。鸡白痢（SP）是发展中国家的一个主要问题，给家禽业造成了重大经济损失。早期体温（EBT）此前已被证明与宿主免疫力和对鸡白痢病的抵抗力相关。在本研究中，我们在4日龄时用鸡白痢挑战了三个独立的雏鸡群体（北京油鸡、矮脚鸡和罗德岛红鸡），并在2至7日龄的鸡白痢攻击前后测量直肠温度。通过存活率和脾脏鸡白痢带菌状态评估宿主对鸡白痢的防御能力。结果表明，在两个群体（矮脚鸡和北京油鸡）中，鸡白痢感染前EBT较高的雏鸡对后期鸡白痢攻击的抵抗力往往更强。在罗德岛红鸡群体中，鸡白痢攻击前的EBT与鸡白痢抵抗力之间的关联不显著（P = 0.06），但趋势与其他两个群体一致。我们还发现，在所有三个群体中，鸡白痢攻击前后EBT的遗传力较低至中等，范围为0.14至0.20。全基因组关联研究确定了几个决定鸡白痢攻击前EBT的基因组区域和生物学途径，这为该性状提供了候选功能基因。我们的结果揭示了EBT的遗传决定因素，以及EBT与鸡白痢抵抗力之间的关系，为提高鸡对鸡白痢的抗性提供了一种替代策略。
