MeRIP sequencing reveals the regulation of N6-methyladenosine in muscle development between hypertrophic and leaner broilers

Zhijun Wang; Xing Ju; Kan Li; Danfeng Cai; Zhen Zhou; Qinghua Nie

doi:10.1016/j.psj.2024.103708

MeRIP sequencing reveals the regulation of N6-methyladenosine in muscle development between hypertrophic and leaner broilers

Poult Sci. 2024 Apr 1;103(6):103708. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2024.103708. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhijun Wang¹, Xing Ju², Kan Li², Danfeng Cai², Zhen Zhou², Qinghua Nie³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Applied Technology on Green-Eco-Healthy Animal Husbandry of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Animal Health Inspection & Internet Technology, College of Animal Science and Technology& College of Veterinary Medicine of Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China; Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, and Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, China.
² Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, and Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, China.
³ Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, and Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address: nqinghua@scau.edu.cn.

Abstract

Meat production performance is the most important economic trait in broilers, and skeletal muscle, as the largest organ in animals, is directly related to meat production during embryonic and postnatal growth and development. N6-Methyladenosine (m⁶A) is a chemical modification occurs on RNA adenosine that has been reported to participate in a variety of biological processes in all species. However, there are still few reports on the regulatory role of muscle growth and development in poultry after birth. This study aims to reveal the distribution of m⁶A modification sites in chicken pectoralis major muscle after birth and find out the regulatory relationship between m⁶A and muscle development. As representatives of leaner (Xinghua chicken [XH]) and hypertrophic (White Recessive Rock chicken [WRR]) broilers, there are significant differences in body weight, muscle fiber diameter, and muscle fiber cross-sectional area between XH and WRR chickens. RNA sequencing detected a total of 397 differentially expressed genes (DEG) in the pectoralis major muscle of XH and WRR chicken, and these DEGs were mainly enriched in catalytic activity and metabolic pathways. MeRIP sequencing results showed that among all 6,476 differentially modified m⁶A peaks, about 90% peaks (5,823) were differentially down regulated in XH chickens. The joint analysis of the mRNA and MeRIP sequencing data found 145 DEGs with differential m⁶A peak, ALKBH5 as a m⁶A demethylase, was also included. The highly expression of ALKBH5 in the muscle tissue of poultry and differential expression between XH and WRR chickens suggest that ALKBH5 may play a crucial role in regulating muscle development. Our results revealed that there were significant differences in growth rate, body weight, muscle fiber diameter, and fiber cross-section area between WRR and XH chicken, as well as significant differences in m⁶A methylation level and muscle metabolism level.

Keywords: ALKBH5; MeRIP; N6-Methyladenosine; broiler; muscle development.