Analysis of key regulatory genes for egg-laying performance in inner Mongolia bian chicken and prairie green chicken

To analyze the key regulatory genes for egg-laying performance of Inner Mongolia Bian chicken and Prairie Green chicken, this study collected hypothalamus and ovary samples from 4 healthy 33-weeks-old Inner Mongolia Bian chicken for transcriptome sequencing, and compared them with the hypothalamus and ovary samples from 3 Prairie Green chicken of the same age and rearing conditions. The results showed that compared with Prairie Green chicken, there were 177 differential expressed genes (DEGs) in the hypothalamus of Inner Mongolia Bian chicken, including 106 up-regulated genes and 71 down-regulated genes, and 503 DEGs in the ovaries, including 137 up-regulated genes and 366 down-regulated genes. The analyses results revealed that these DEGs were mainly involved in processes such as calcium ion binding, RNA polymerase II transcription regulatory region sequence-specific DNA binding, DNA-binding transcription activator activity RNA polymerase II-specific, and hormone binding. They also played important roles in pathways including the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, calcium signaling pathway, focal adhesion, AMPK signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway, purine metabolism, regulation of stem cell pluripotency, and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction. Significant pathway analysis combined with phenotypic data revealed a certain gap in egg-laying performance between Inner Mongolia Bian chicken and Prairie Green chicken. Validation of four significantly DEGs, combined with literature reports, preliminarily identified LOC genes as potential key regulatory candidates for egg-laying performance, which will be further validated and studied. This study can provide references for conservation and breeding of Bian chicken.