Microbial and host myo-inositol usage in the gastrointestinal tract of laying hens

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Amelia Camarinha Silva; Professorin Dr. Jana Seifert
• Subject Area: Animal Breeding, Animal Nutrition, Animal Husbandry
• Term: since 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 322916021

The proposed project aims to contribute to the understanding of the composition and function of the intestinal microbiota in laying hens and quails. The particular focus is set on the impact of InsP6 degradation products and the productive life span as factors contributing to variations of the intestinal microbiota. Furthermore, through sharing samples obtained in the due course of the proposed project and also methods with other partners of the Research Unit, our project aims to improve the understanding of the fundamental principles of microbe-host interactions in single animals. The microbiota is studied using RNA extracts of intestinal samples and sequence analyses of the 16S rRNA gene as well as the metatranscriptome (responsible scientist: A. Camarinha-Silva). Additionally, concomitant samples are used to analyze the metaproteome and metabolome to study the influence towards the microbiome functions (responsible scientist: J. Seifert). The concerted analyses among our data and with data gained in the other projects of the Research Unit will support answering the research objectives mentioned above.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2601: Inositol phosphates and myo-inositol in the domestic fowl: Exploring the interface of genetics, physiology, microbiome, and nutrition