Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Mar 15:16:131-139.
doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2018.03.002. eCollection 2018.

Current Perspectives of the Chicken Gastrointestinal Tract and Its Microbiome

Daniel Borda-Molina  1 , Jana Seifert  1 , Amélia Camarinha-Silva  1
Affiliations
Review

Current Perspectives of the Chicken Gastrointestinal Tract and Its Microbiome

Daniel Borda-Molina et al. Comput Struct Biotechnol J. .

Abstract

The microbial communities inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of chickens are essential for the gut homeostasis, the host metabolism and affect the animals' physiology and health. They play an important role in nutrient digestion, pathogen inhibition and interact with the gut-associated immune system. Throughout the last years high-throughput sequencing technologies have been used to analyze the bacterial communities that colonize the different sections of chickens' gut. The most common methodologies are targeted amplicon sequencing followed by metagenome shotgun sequencing as well as metaproteomics aiming at a broad range of topics such as dietary effects, animal diseases, bird performance and host genetics. However, the respective analyses are still at the beginning and currently there is a lack of information in regard to the activity and functional characterization of the gut microbial communities. In the future, the use of multi-omics approaches may enhance research related to chicken production, animal and also public health. Furthermore, combinations with other disciplines such as genomics, immunology and physiology may have the potential to elucidate the definition of a "healthy" gut microbiota.

Keywords: Chicken broilers; Gastrointestinal tract; Microbiome; Microbiome-host interaction; Omics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Families with more than 1% of abundance obtained from caeca content with 16S rRNA gene [13], and metaproteomic [58] analyses.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Overview of the factors affecting chicken health, welfare and performance and future perspectives in the analysis of the chicken microbiome.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fadiel A., Anidi I., Eichenbaum K.D. Farm animal genomics and informatics: an update. Nucleic Acids Res. 2005;33(19):6308–6318. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cheng H.W. Breeding of tomorrow's chickens to improve well-being. Poult Sci. 2010;89(4):805–813. - PubMed
    1. Willems O.W., Miller S.P., Wood B.J. Aspects of selection for feed efficiency in meat producing poultry. Worlds Poult Sci J. 2013;69(1):77–88.
    1. Suttle N.F. 4th Edition. CABI Publishing; USA: 2010. Mineral nutrition of livestock.
    1. Sergeant M.J., Constantinidou C., Cogan T.A., Bedford M.R., Penn C.W., Pallen M.J. Extensive microbial and functional diversity within the chicken cecal microbiome. PLoS ONE. 2014;9(3) - PMC - PubMed