Non-Targeted Metabolomics of Serum Reveals Biomarkers Associated with Body Weight in Wumeng Black-Bone Chickens.

Simple Summary: Growth traits are important economic traits of broilers. We found the key metabolites that may be related to the body weight of Wumeng black-bone chicken by comparing their serum metabolomics between the high- and low-weight groups. Metabolites with high levels in serum such as riboflavin and 2-isopropylmalic acid may be beneficial to growth performance, and the enrichment of inflammation-related metabolites may be related to low body weight of chickens. Our results can provide a certain reference for the analysis of metabolic mechanism of body-weight formation of chickens. Growth performance is an important economic trait of broilers but the related serum metabolomics remains unclear. In this study, we utilized non-targeted metabolomics using ultra-high-performance liquid phase tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) to establish metabolite profiling in the serum of Chinese Wumeng black-bone chickens. The biomarker metabolites in serum associated with growth performance of chickens were identified by comparing the serum metabolome differences between chickens that significantly differed in their weights at 160 days of age when fed identical diets. A total of 766 metabolites were identified including 13 differential metabolite classes such as lipids and lipid-like molecules, organic acids and their derivatives, and organoheterocyclic compounds. The results of difference analysis using a partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model indicated that the low-body-weight group could be differentiated based on inflammatory markers including prostaglandin a2, kynurenic acid and fatty acid esters of hydroxy fatty acids (FAHFA), and inflammation-related metabolic pathways including tryptophan and arachidonic acid metabolism. In contrast, the sera of high-body-weight chickens were enriched for riboflavin and 2-isopropylmalic acid and for metabolic pathways including riboflavin metabolism, acetyl group transfer into mitochondria, and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. These results provide new insights into the practical application of improving the growth performance of local chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]