Immunomodulatory effects of heat stress and lipopolysaccharide on the bursal transcriptome in two chicken lines. Immunomodulatory effects of heat stress and lipopolysaccharide on the bursal transcriptome in two chicken lines

For this study, bursal transcriptome responses to an acute heat stress and/or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were investigated in a broiler line (heat and disease susceptible) and an inbred Fayoumi line (heat and disease resistant) of chickens. In a 2 x 2 design, 22 day-old birds were exposed to heat stress (35°C for 7 hours), lipopolysaccharide (100 µg/kg average body weight per line), or both stressors. Thermoneutral temperature (25°C) and phosphate buffered saline were used as the respective controls. Tissue samples were collected from the bursa of Fabricius and used to isolate high quality RNA. cDNA libraries (n = 31) were constructed and sequenced (2 technical replicates per library; 62 total datasets) on the HiSeq 2500.