Effects of heat stress on the hepatic transcriptome of yellow-feathered chickens

Heat stress is one of the main environmental factors that hamper the efficiency of poultry production. Heat stress is known to be less harmful to yellow-feathered chickens (YFC) than to commercial broilers, especially in its effect on the relative weight of organs. The transcriptome was used to examine the gene expression profile of the livers of YFC that were exposed to heat stress. Mean liver weight (HW) and the hepatic weight index (HWI) of birds in the heat stress group did not differ significantly from those of the control group. A total of 596 genes were differentially expressed in the liver in response to heat stress. The enrichment results of differentially expressed genes (DEG) showed that many of these genes were related to the Fanconi anaemia pathway and that the cell cycle pathway was modulated. Thus, it can be concluded that these genes might be involved in improving the stability of the YFC liver genome and controlling the physiological response to heat stress.