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. 2025 Mar 29;16(4):394.
doi: 10.3390/genes16040394.

Ovarian Transcriptome Profile from Egg-Laying Period to Incubation Period of Changshun Green-Shell Laying Hens

Zhi Chen  1 , Di Wen  1
Affiliations

Ovarian Transcriptome Profile from Egg-Laying Period to Incubation Period of Changshun Green-Shell Laying Hens

Zhi Chen et al. Genes (Basel). .

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The Changshun green-shell laying hen with a strong broodiness is a Chinese indigenous chicken breed. Little is known about the mechanisms responsible for the ovary development of Changshun green-shell laying hens from the egg-laying period (LP) to the incubation period (BP). Methods: A total of six hens were selected from LP (n = three) and BP (n = three) at 28 weeks old. The RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of ovaries from hens in LP and BP groups was performed to identify candidate genes and pathways associated with broodiness. Results: We identified 1650 differently expressed genes (DEGs), including 429 up-regulated and 1221 down-regulated DEGs, in chicken ovaries between LP and BP groups. Gene ontology term (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis revealed that these DEGs were mainly involved in the pathways related to follicle development in chicken ovaries, including focal adhesion, the MAPK signaling pathway, and the FoxO signaling pathway, and vascular smooth muscle contraction, ECM-receptor interaction, and the GnRH signaling pathway were down-regulated in incubating ovaries. Eight candidate genes (EGFR, VEGFRKDRL, FLT1, KDR, PDGFRA, TEK, KIT and FGFR3) related to angiogenesis, folliculogenesis, steroidogenesis and oogenesis in ovaries were suggested to play important roles in the ovarian development of Changshun hens during the transition from LP to BP. Conclusions: This study identified a range of genes and several pathways that may be involved in regulating the broodiness of Changshun green-shell laying hens. These data are helpful to further enrich our understanding of the mechanism of incubation behaviour in chickens.

Keywords: Changshun green-shell laying hen; incubation period; laying period; ovary; transcriptome analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Features of sequencing data. (A) PCA score plot of ovarian transcriptomes. Red and green nodes represent individuals from the BP and LP, respectively. (B) Pearson correlation analysis of the LP and BP groups. LP1, LP2 and LP3 are ovarian samples from egg-laying hens, and BP1, BP2 and BP3 are ovarian samples from incubation hens. Colour indicates the Pearson correlation value.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Volcano map of all expressed genes. The horizontal and longitudinal coordinates represent the fold changes of genes and the statistical significance of the changes in gene expression, respectively. Blue and red plots represent significantly up- and down-regulated genes (|log2FC| ≥ 1.5, FDR-corrected p value < 0.01), respectively. Black plots are genes without significant difference.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Top 20 KEGG pathways enriched by the ovarian DEGs. The longitudinal and horizontal coordinates represent the name of the pathway and the number of pathway corresponding DEGs, respectively. The color corresponds to the q value of each pathway.
Figure 4
Figure 4
GO classification of ovarian DEGs. The longitudinal and horizontal coordinates represent the GO term and the number of DEGs annotated to the term, respectively. Green, orange and purple indicate the molecular function, cellular component and biological process, respectively.
Figure 5
Figure 5
PPI networks of ovarian DEGs. Red and green circle nodes indicate down-regulated and up-regulated DEGs, respectively. The size of the node represents the expression of DEGs. Blue rectangles indicate the KEGG pathway. Interactions were shown as solid lines between proteins, and edges of KEGG pathway in dashed lines.
Figure 6
Figure 6
qRT-PCR validation of ovarian DEGs. The results were expressed as mean  ±  SD. * p < 0.05. LP, egg-laying group; BP, incubation group.
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