Transcriptome analysis reveals potential mechanisms of the effects of dietary Enteromorpha polysaccharides on bursa of Fabricius in broilers

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of Enteromorpha polysaccharides (EP) on relative organ weight of broilers, and RNA‐seq technique was used to reveal the potential molecular mechanisms of the positive effects of EP on relative organ weight. A total of 396 1‐day‐old male chicks (Arbor Acres) were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments containing EP at 0 (EP0), 1000 (EP1000), 2500 (EP2500), 4000 (EP4000), 5500 (EP5500), and 7000 (EP7000) mg/kg levels for a 35‐day feeding trial. At the end of feeding trail, six birds (one bird from each replicate cage) were randomly selected from each treatment and then slaughtered for relative organ weight analysis. The results showed that the relative weight of bursa of Fabricius were increased in the EP1000 group (p < 0.05), and then three bursa of Fabricius samples from each group (EP0 and EP1000) were randomly selected for RNA‐seq analysis. The results of RNA‐seq analysis showed that there were 20 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between EP0 and EP1000 groups, among the DEGs, 6 genes were upregulated and 14 genes were downregulated by EP1000 supplementation (p‐adjust < 0.05). Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis suggested that the DEGs were mainly enriched in negative regulation of toll‐like receptor 9 signaling pathway (p‐corrected < 0.05). Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were mainly enriched in phagosome, mitophagy‐animal, Salmonella infection, autophagy‐animal signaling pathways (p‐corrected = 0.081). Taken together, dietary EP supplementation at 1000 mg/kg level promoted the relative weight of bursa of Fabricius may be involved in improving the immune function of broilers. These findings provided a reference for further exploring the specific molecular mechanism of EP that affecting the organ development in broilers.

Enteromorpha polysaccharide and yeast glycoprotein mixture improves growth, antioxidant activity, serum lipid profile and regulates lipid metabolism in broiler chickens

“…Besides, EP has been found to regulate intestinal microbiota in chicken ( Wassie et al, 2021b ), mice ( Zhang et al, 2018 ), and fecal microbiota in humans ( Kong et al, 2016 ). Qiu et al (2021) reported that supplementation of diet with EP enhances weight and differentially regulates the gene expression at the transcriptome level in the bursa of Fabricius of Arbor Acres chickens. Furthermore, our previous studies demonstrated that EP-zinc supplementation could improve intestinal health in piglets ( Xie et al, 2021 ), and regulate amino acid and fatty acid metabolism in chicken ( Wassie et al, 2022 ).…”

Dietary Enteromorpha Polysaccharide Enhances Intestinal Immune Response, Integrity, and Caecal Microbial Activity of Broiler Chickens

“…Recent studies indicated increased production performance, breast muscle yield, egg quality, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal morphology of chickens fed seaweed polysaccharides (15)(16)(17)(18). In addition, EP supplementation increased the weight and differentially regulates the gene expression at the transcriptome level in the bursa of Fabricius of Arbor Acres chickens (19).…”

“…Recent studies indicated increased production performance, breast muscle yield, egg quality, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal morphology of chickens fed seaweed polysaccharides ( 15 – 18 ). In addition, EP supplementation increased the weight and differentially regulates the gene expression at the transcriptome level in the bursa of Fabricius of Arbor Acres chickens ( 19 ). Similarly, EP supplementation has been shown to improve the growth performance, non-specific immunity, and intestinal function of banana shrimp F. merguiensis fish ( 20 ).…”

Plant-Derived Polysaccharides Regulated Immune Status, Gut Health and Microbiota of Broilers: A Review

“…Polysaccharides were also benefited to improve the T-lymphocyte percentage and enhance the development of immune organs, evidenced by the increased lymph follicle area in the bursa of Fabricius and white pulp area expansion, which suggested that polysaccharide treatment elicited lymphocyte formation in the bursa of Fabricius (36). Further study by transcriptome analysis revealed that dietary Enteromorpha polysaccharides regulated 20 differentially expressed genes of the bursa of Fabricius, which were mainly enriched in negative regulation of the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway and mainly enriched in phagosome, mitophagy-animal, Salmonella infection, and autophagy signaling pathways (34). Moreover, it was identified that algae-derived polysaccharides ameliorated the impairment of the bursa of Fabricius in heat-stressed broilers via modulation of the NF-κB signaling pathway (35).…”

“…The reason for the higher activity of γ-irradiated APS was that irradiation leads to the cleavage of glycosidic bonds by electromagnetic waves of gamma rays and resulted in low molecular weight polysaccharide products, which affected their biological activities (9,32,33). Enteromorpha polysaccharide administration increased the relative weight of the bursa of Fabricius in broilers (34) and improved the morphology of the bursa of Fabricius, including infiltration of inflammatory cells, destruction of the cell structure, and cell necrosis (35). It has been demonstrated that Camellia oleifera cake polysaccharides increased the weight or index of the spleen and thymus of broilers (19).…”