Genome-resolved analysis reveals successional dynamics and functional transitions in chicken gut archaea across the broiler growth cycle
- 1College of Veterinary Medicine, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, PR China
- 2Guangxi Key Laboratory of Drug Discovery and Optimization, Guangxi Engineering Research Center for Pharmaceutical Molecular Screening and Druggability Evaluation, Key Laboratory of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, School of Pharmacy, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected]
Abstract
Archaea are indispensable members of the gut microbiota, playing important roles in host metabolism and gut homeostasis. Despite their ecological significance, the archaeal community within the chicken gut remains poorly understood, particularly regarding its taxonomic diversity, functional potential, and successional dynamics throughout the broiler growth cycle. In this study, we employed a metagenome-assembled genome (MAG) approach to systematically characterize the composition, phylogeny, and functional shifts of the chicken gut archaea. We constructed a genome catalog comprising 172 non-redundant archaeal MAGs, encompassing 11,796 protein clusters. Community analysis revealed that alpha diversity indices differed significantly across growth stages, suggesting that the archaeal community becomes increasingly robust and functionally complex as the host matures. Functional annotation further demonstrated broad metabolic versatility, with distinct metabolic profiles emerging across multiple functional modules at different ages. This study reveals the dynamics of chicken gut archaeal communities and their potential functional characteristics across different production stages, providing a basis for future research into their ecological roles and possible associations with host gut ecosystem stability.
Related
- Genome-resolved metagenomics reveals the taxonomic and functional landscape of the rumen microbiome in Japanese Black × Holstein cattle and its associations with carcass traits
- Unraveling APA dynamics during quiescence transitions reveals Pabp modulation of sod2 expression via APA to regulate cellular quiescence
- Successional dynamics and driving factors of soil multitrophic communities along coal mine reclamation chronosequences in Shanxi, China
- Functional ultrasound imaging in free-moving marmosets reveals that intra-call prosodic features modulate large-scale cortical dynamics
- Spatially resolved reaction–diffusion modeling reveals effects of intracellular spatial heterogeneity on yeast galactose network dynamics
BibTeX
@article{zhang2026genomeresolved,
title = {{Genome-resolved analysis reveals successional dynamics and functional transitions in chicken gut archaea across the broiler growth cycle}},
author = {Y ZHANG and Meng-Yu Li and Y ZHANG and Hao Ding and Long Yun and Zhong-Yuan Li},
journal = {Poultry Science},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1016/j.psj.2026.107186},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2026.107186},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Genome-resolved analysis reveals successional dynamics and functional transitions in chicken gut archaea across the broiler growth cycle
AU - Y ZHANG
AU - Meng-Yu Li
AU - Y ZHANG
AU - Hao Ding
AU - Long Yun
AU - Zhong-Yuan Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/26
JO - Poultry Science
DO - 10.1016/j.psj.2026.107186
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2026.107186
AB - Archaea are indispensable members of the gut microbiota, playing important roles in host metabolism and gut homeostasis. Despite their ecological significance, the archaeal community within the chicken gut remains poorly understood, particularly regarding its taxonomic diversity, functional potential, and successional dynamics throughout the broiler growth cycle. In this study, we employed a metagenome-assembled genome (MAG) approach to systematically characterize the composition, phylogeny, and functional shifts of the chicken gut archaea. We constructed a genome catalog comprising 172 non-redundant archaeal MAGs, encompassing 11,796 protein clusters. Community analysis revealed that alpha diversity indices differed significantly across growth stages, suggesting that the archaeal community becomes increasingly robust and functionally complex as the host matures. Functional annotation further demonstrated broad metabolic versatility, with distinct metabolic profiles emerging across multiple functional modules at different ages. This study reveals the dynamics of chicken gut archaeal communities and their potential functional characteristics across different production stages, providing a basis for future research into their ecological roles and possible associations with host gut ecosystem stability.
SN - 0032-5791
SN - 1525-3171
ER -