Genome-wide variation study and inter-tissue communication analysis unveil regulatory mechanisms of egg-laying performance in chickens
Egg-laying performance is of great economic importance in poultry, but the underlying genetic mechanisms are still elusive. In this work, we conduct a multi-omics and multi-tissue integrative study in hens with distinct egg production, to detect the hub candidate genes and construct hub molecular networks contributing to egg-laying phenotypic differences. We identifiy three hub candidate genes as egg-laying facilitators: TFPI2, which promotes the GnRH secretion in hypothalamic neuron cells; CAMK2D, which promotes the FSHβ and LHβ secretion in pituitary cells; and OSTN, which promotes granulosa cell proliferation and the synthesis of sex steroid hormones. We reveal key endocrine factors involving egg production by inter-tissue crosstalk analysis, and demonstrate that both a hepatokine, APOA4, and an adipokine, ANGPTL2, could increase egg production by inter-tissue communication with hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. Together, These results reveal the molecular mechanisms of multi-tissue coordinative regulation of chicken egg-laying performance and provide key insights to avian reproductive regulation.
Authors
- Yiqiang Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0076-3476)
- Chunlin Xu
- Xiaoxiang Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7045-0283)
- Lina Bu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8391-3423)
- Yadong Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4215-5698)
- Xiaojun Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7527-8793)
- Yihao Zhi
- Ruili Han
- Guoxi Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8442-8861)
- Ian Dunn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3630-0120)
- Lizhi Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8522-545X)
- Ruirui Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7863-6186)
- Weihua Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9817-6087)
- Yulong Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0006-4672)
- Zhuanjian Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7595-0604)
- Yangyang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2255-6141)
- Zhang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4864-7551)
- Dong Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4571-2776)
- Hong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3869-1583)
- Donghua Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9990-3514)
- Dandan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4269-0022)
- Yongqiang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7276-4275)
- Xiangtao Kang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9628-7135)
Institutions
- Royal Veterinary College (GB)
- Roslin Institute (GB)
- Zhengzhou University (CN)
- Poultry Research Institute (CN)
- Henan Institute of Science and Technology (CN)
- Henan Agricultural University (CN)
- China Agricultural University (CN)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-08-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50809-9
- Citations
- 27
- Primary Topic
- Animal Nutrition and Physiology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.20
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- National Key Research and Development Program of China