Expression of small intestinal nutrient transporters in embryonic and posthatch turkeys

Nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine through a variety of transporter proteins, which have not been as well characterized in turkeys as in chickens. The objective of this study was to profile the mRNA expression of amino acid and monosaccharide transporters in the small intestine of male and female turkeys. Jejunum was collected during embryonic development (embryonic d 21 and 24, and d of hatch (DOH)) and duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were collected in a separate experiment during posthatch development (DOH, d 7, 14, 21, and 28). Real-time PCR was used to determine expression of aminopeptidase N (APN), one peptide (PepT1), 6 amino acid (ASCT1, b(o,+)AT, CAT1, EAAT3, LAT1, y(+)LAT2) and 3 monosaccharide (GLUT2, GLUT5, SGLT1) transporters. Data were analyzed by ANOVA using JMP Pro 11.0. APN, b(o,+)AT, PepT1, y(+)LAT2, GLUT5, and SGLT1 showed increased expression from embryonic d 21 and 24 to DOH. During posthatch, all genes except GLUT2 and SGLT1 were expressed greater in females than males. GLUT2 was expressed the same in males as females and SGLT1 was expressed greater in males than females. All basolateral membrane transporters were expressed greater during early development then decreased with age, while the brush border membrane transporters EAAT3, GLUT5, and SGLT1 showed increased expression later in development. Because turkeys showed high-level expression of the anionic amino acid transporter EAAT3, a direct comparison of tissue-specific expression of EAAT3 between chicken and turkey was conducted. The anionic amino acid transporter EAAT3 showed 6-fold greater expression in the ileum of turkeys at d 14 compared to chickens. This new knowledge can be used not only to better formulate turkey diets to accommodate increased glutamate transport, but also to optimize nutrition for both sexes.