Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Chicken Heart Gene Expression Patterns Between a Modern Broiler and a Heritage Line

The chicken serves as a major food source and as a model organism for biology.  We have been using two chicken lines as a model for organogenesis and to better understand an organism’s cellular response to heat conditioning. This project particularly focuses on characterizing differentially expressed genes in the heart, comparing Heritage meat type bird and Ross708 modern day broilers during normal post-hatch growth at 21 days of age. As modern broilers have a reduced normalized heart size and an increased susceptibility to heart failure, we also hope to gain insight into the pathological responses to selection for rapid growth. Data analyzed to date shows that the hearts’ of Ross708 birds develop signs of inflammation, connective tissue damage, and increase in extracellular matrix deposition and cell turnover as they age, and also when compared to Heritage. There are also differences in metabolism with the Ross708 birds having higher expression of genes involved in glycolysis and the citric acid cycle, which is unusual because the heart primarily derives energy from lipid metabolism.