The liver plays a variety of roles in energy metabolism, digestion, and immune response. During the challenge by anenvironmental stressor, such as heat, the liver is one of the key organs that determines the chicken’s ability to cope with the hostile environment. Sequencing RNA extracted from liver samples from a heat-susceptible broiler line and a heat-resistant Fayoumi line, we have identifieda set of genes that were differentially expressed due to an acuteheat stress challenge. Analysis of these genes in context of the biological pathways showed opposite responsesby the broiler and Fayoumichickens,but there was activation of immune signaling pathways for both lines.This result suggests that despite mechanistic differences in heat stress response, selection for improvement in heat tolerance may also cause alteration to immune response.
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