Comparative Transcriptome Analyses of Leg Muscle during Early Growth between Geese (Anser cygnoides) Breeds Differing in Body Size Characteristics

Jun Tang; Hongjia Ouyang; Xiaomei Chen; Danli Jiang; Yunbo Tian; Yunmao Huang; Xu Shen

doi:10.3390/genes14051048

Comparative Transcriptome Analyses of Leg Muscle during Early Growth between Geese (Anser cygnoides) Breeds Differing in Body Size Characteristics

Genes (Basel). 2023 May 7;14(5):1048. doi: 10.3390/genes14051048.

Authors

Jun Tang^{1

2}, Hongjia Ouyang^{1

2}, Xiaomei Chen¹, Danli Jiang^{1

2}, Yunbo Tian^{1

2}, Yunmao Huang^{1

2}, Xu Shen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Animal Science and Technology, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China.
² Waterfowl Healthy Breeding Engineering Research Center, Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Guangzhou 510225, China.

Abstract

Goose is an important poultry commonly raised for meat. The early growth performance of geese significantly influences their market weight and slaughter weight, affecting the poultry industry's economic benefits. To identify the growth surge between the Shitou goose and the Wuzong goose, we collected the early growth body traits from 0 to 12 weeks. In addition, we investigated the transcriptomic changes in leg muscles at the high growth speed period to reveal the difference between the two geese breeds. We also estimated the growth curve parameters under three models, including the logistic, von Bertalanffy, and Gompertz models. The results showed that except for body length and keel length, the best-fitting model between the body weight and body size of the Shitou and Wuzong was the logistic model. The growth turning points of Shitou and Wuzong were 5.954 and 4.944 weeks, respectively, and the turning point of their body weight was 1459.01 g and 478.54 g, respectively. Growth surge occurred at 2-9 weeks in Shitou goose and at 1-7 weeks in Wuzong goose. The body size traits of the Shitou goose and Wuzong goose showed a trend of rapid growth in the early stage and slow growth in the later stage, and the Shitou goose growth was higher than the Wuzong goose. For transcriptome sequencing, a total of 87 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified with a fold change ≥ 2 and a false discovery rate < 0.05. Many DEGs have a potential function for growth, such as CXCL12, SSTR4, FABP5, SLC2A1, MYLK4, and EIF4E3. KEGG pathway analysis identified that some DEGs were significantly enriched in the calcium signaling pathway, which may promote muscle growth. The gene-gene interaction network of DEGs was mainly related to the transmission of cell signals and substances, hematological system development, and functions. This study can provide theoretical guidance for the production and breeding management of the Shitou goose and Wuzong goose and help reveal the genetic mechanisms underlying diverse body sizes between two goose breeds.

Keywords: goose; growth curve; growth performance; transcriptome.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Body Size / genetics
Body Weight / genetics
Geese* / genetics
Gene Expression Profiling*
Muscles

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Key Discipline Research Capacity Improvement Project of Guangdong Province (2021ZDJS006), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2021A1515010781), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32072730).