Impact of delayed-feeding on the liver transcriptome of broiler chickens

Hepatic fatty acid oxidation of yolk lipoproteins provides the main energy source for chicken embryos. Post-hatching absorbed yolk lipids are exhausted within the first couple of days and the metabolism switches to a carbohydrate-based (feed) energy source. We delayed feeding Ross 708 broiler chicks for 48hr after hatching to impede the hepatic metabolic switch. We then used RNA-seq (Illumina) to develop transcriptome profiles of the liver from E18 embryos (embryonic metabolism), D2 chicks fed-from-hatch (post-hatch metabolism), and D2 chicks not provided feed.