Abstract
Background:
The breeder rooster has played an important role in poultry production by providing high-quality semen. In general, the fertility peaks of breeder roosters between 30 and 40 weeks of age and declines rapidly from 45 to 55 weeks of age. The exploration of improving fertility in aging roosters would help to extend the useful life of roosters. At present, researchers have made some progress, but improving fertility in aging roosters has become an important issue that needs to be addressed.
Methods:
To identify the genes related to promoting sperm remodeling in aged Houdan roosters, we combined changes in testis and semen quality with transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) to analyze the synchrony of semen quality and testis development. In this study, 350-day-old Houdan breeder roosters were selected for RNA-seq analysis in testis tissues from induced molting roosters (D group) and non-induced molting roosters (47DG group). All analyses of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and functional enrichment were performed. Finally, we selected six DEGs to verify the accuracy of the sequencing by qPCR.
Results:
Sperm motility, sperm density, and testis weight were significantly increased in roosters in the fasted-induced molting group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Further RNA-seq analysis of the testis between the D group and 47DG group identified 61 DEGs, with 21 up-regulated and 40 down-regulated. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were primarily enriched in the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, Wnt signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, TGF-β signaling pathway, and focal adhesion pathway. The qRT-PCR results showed that the expression trend of these genes was consistent with the sequencing results. WNT5A, FGFR3, AGTR2, TGFβ2, ROMO1, and SLC26A7 may play a role in testis development and spermatogenesis. This study provides fundamental data to enhance the reproductive value of aging roosters.