Direct and maternal reduced balanced protein diet influences the liver transcriptome in chickens

The objective of this study was to evaluate, by means of RNA-sequencing, the direct and transgenerational effect of a reduced balanced protein diet on the broiler breeder chicken's metabolism. Chickens of the F0 generation were fed a control (C) or reduced balanced protein (RP) diet and their progeny F1 was fed a C or RP diet as well, resulting in four groups of chickens, C/C, C/RP, RP/C and RP/RP. While both a direct and maternal effect were seen on body weight, breast muscle weight and abdominal fat weight in the F1 generation, the direct effect was the most dominant one. The transcriptome of the liver in the F1 generation showed that the amino acid metabolism was upregulated in the chickens that received the control feed when compared to their respective contemporaries that received the reduced protein diet. Interestingly, the chickens hatched from control fed hens but fed themselves the reduced protein diet (C/RP group) activated a fatty acid metabolism, expressing more FADS1, FADS2 and ELOVL2, when compared to control fed chickens hatched from control fed hens (C/C group), while chickens hatched from reduced protein fed hens that received themselves the same reduced protein diet (RP/RP group) triggered more the glucose metabolism elevating levels of PFKL, PFKFB1 and ALDOC mRNA when compared to the chickens hatched from reduced protein fed hens receiving themselves a control diet (RP/C group). This suggests an impact of a maternal protein diet on the metabolism of the progeny when fed a reduced balanced protein diet.