Improving Poultry Growth Under Thermal Stress

Young animals under stress from temperature extremes tend not to grow and develop as well as they should. Young poultry have poorly developed thermoregulatory systems, so extreme temperatures, which are occurring more often as the climate changes, affect their growth, muscle development, and fat deposition. This has negative consequences for the poultry industry.

MSI PI Kent Reed (professor, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences) is working on a project called “De novo prediction of miRNAs in turkey muscle cells,” that is studying the genes and gene pathways of muscle stem cells in commercial turkeys that differentially respond to thermal challenge. As well as traditional gene expression analysis, they are working with Research Informatics staff at MSI to perform de novo miRNA discovery and differential expression analysis. Analyses of these two matched small RNA-seq datasets will characterize the response of non-coding miRNAs in these cells and help to identify important miRNA/mRNA interactions that may impact muscle development under thermal challenge.