Available online 13 March 2024, 105158

A recently developed dynamic proteomics pipeline based on the administration of a single 2H2O bolus has been applied for the calculation of the FSR of multiple broiler chicken breast muscle proteins. This is the first reported high-throughput dynamic proteomics study in a farm animal species.

A new bioinformatic pipeline was developed for filtering proteomics data, calculating peptide 2H enrichment and protein FSR using freely available software.

The FSR of individual broiler chicken breast muscle proteins uniformly decreased following an acute immunological challenge. FSR reduction was significant for multiple individual proteins, the two major functional clusters identified, as well as mixed breast muscle protein.

Neither citrus extract nor cucumber extract supplemented in chicken's feed were capable of alleviating the effect of an immune challenge in broiler chicken breast muscle protein FSR.

Optimization of broiler chicken breast muscle protein accretion is key for the efficient production of poultry meat, whose demand is steadily increasing. In a context where antimicrobial growth promoters use is being restricted, it is important to find alternatives as well as to characterize the effect of immunological stress on broiler chicken's growth. Despite its importance, research on broiler chicken muscle protein dynamics has mostly been limited to the study of mixed protein turnover. The present study aims to characterize the effect of a bacterial challenge and the feed supplementation of citrus and cucumber extracts on broiler chicken individual breast muscle proteins fractional synthesis rates (FSR) using a recently developed dynamic proteomics pipeline. Twenty-one day-old broiler chickens were administered a single 2H2O dose before being culled at different timepoints. A total of 60 breast muscle protein extracts from five experimental groups (Unchallenged, Challenged, Control Diet, Diet 1 and Diet 2) were analysed using a DDA proteomics approach. Proteomics data was filtered in order to reliably calculate multiple proteins FSR making use of a newly developed bioinformatics pipeline. Broiler breast muscle proteins FSR uniformly decreased following a bacterial challenge, this change was judged significant for 15 individual proteins, the two major functional clusters identified as well as for mixed breast muscle protein. Citrus or cucumber extract feed supplementation did not show any effect on the breast muscle protein FSR of immunologically challenged broilers. The present study has identified potential predictive markers of breast muscle growth and provided new information on broiler chicken breast muscle protein synthesis which could be essential for improving the efficiency of broiler chicken meat production.

The present study constitutes the first dynamic proteomics study conducted in a farm animal species which has characterized FSR in a large number of proteins, establishing a precedent for biomarker discovery and assessment of health and growth status. Moreover, it has been evidenced that the decrease in broiler chicken breast muscle protein following an immune challenge is a coordinated event which seems to be the main cause of the decreased growth observed in these animals.

Broiler chicken

Proteomics

Protein synthesis

Deuterium water

Breast muscle

Immune challenge

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.