Multiomics analysis reveals that microbiota regulate fat and muscle synthesis in chickens

Intestinal microbiota regulates the host metabolism, including fat metabolism and muscle development in mammals; however, studies on the interactions between the gut microbiome and in chickens with respect to fat metabolism and muscle development are still rare. We established a germ-free (GF) chicken model to determine the transcriptomes and metabolomes of GF and specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens. Transcriptome analysis showed 1,282 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in GF and SPF chickens. The expression levels of some genes related to muscle formation were very high in SPF chickens but low in GF chickens, suggesting that GF chickens had poorer muscle development ability. In contrast, the expression levels of some fat synthesis-related genes were very low in SPF chickens but high in GF chickens, suggesting that GF chickens had a more potent fat-synthesizing ability. Metabolome analysis revealed 62 differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) in GF and SPF chickens, of which 35 were upregulated and 27 were downregulated. Furthermore, the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) was calculated, and an interaction network was constructed to visualize the crosstalk between the genes, metabolites, and gut microbiota in GF and SPF chickens. The top 10 gut microbiota were positively correlated with lipid metabolism including13(S)-HpODE and 9(S)-HpOTrE, and genes related to muscle development, while were negatively correlated with genes related to fat synthesis. In conclusion, this study indicated that chicken intestinal microbiota regulate host metabolism, inhibit fat synthesis, and may promote muscle development.