The liver is an important organ that has pivotal functions in the synthesis of several vital proteins, the metabolism of various biologically useful materials, the detoxification of toxic substances, and immune defense. Most liver functions are not mature at a young age and many changes happen during postnatal liver development, which lead to differential functions of the liver at different developmental stages. However, the transcriptome details of what changes occur in the liver after birth and the molecular mechanisms for the regulation of the developmental process are not clearly known in chickens. Here, we used RNA-sequencing to analyze the transcriptome of chicken liver from the prenatal (at an embryonic day of 13) to the postnatal stages (at 5 wk and 42 wk of age). A total of approximately 161.17 Gb of raw data were obtained, with 4,127 putative and 539 differentially expressed lncRNAs, and with 13,949 putative and 6,370 differentially expressed mRNAs. Coexpression of lncRNAs-mRNAs in hepatic transcriptome analysis showed that the liver plays important roles in providing energy for organisms through the mitochondrial respiratory chain in chickens, meanwhile, acting as a crucial part of antioxidant stress. The developmental transcriptome date revealed that antioxidant defenses are likely to act on chicken embryo development and that significant functional changes during postnatal liver development are associated with the liver maturation of chickens. These results provide a timeline for the functional transcriptome transition from the prenatal to adult stages in chickens and will be helpful to reveal the underlying molecular mechanisms of liver development.

中文翻译：

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鸡产前和产后阶段肝脏的转录组分析。

肝脏是重要的器官，在多种重要蛋白质的合成、各种生物有用物质的代谢、有毒物质的解毒和免疫防御中具有关键作用。大多数肝功能在年轻时并不成熟，在出生后肝脏发育过程中发生了许多变化，导致肝脏在不同发育阶段的功能差异。然而，鸡出生后肝脏发生的变化的转录组细节以及发育过程调节的分子机制尚不清楚。在这里，我们使用 RNA 测序来分析鸡肝从产前（胚胎第 13 天）到产后阶段（5 周和 42 周龄）的转录组。总共获得了大约 161.17 Gb 的原始数据，其中 4、127个推定和539个差异表达的lncRNA，以及13,949个推定和6,370个差异表达的mRNA。肝脏转录组分析中lncRNAs-mRNAs的共表达表明，肝脏在通过鸡的线粒体呼吸链为生物体提供能量方面发挥着重要作用，同时也是抗氧化应激的关键部分。发育转录组数据显示，抗氧化防御可能对鸡胚胎发育起作用，并且出生后肝脏发育过程中的显着功能变化与鸡的肝脏成熟有关。这些结果为鸡从产前到成年阶段的功能转录组转变提供了时间表，并将有助于揭示肝脏发育的潜在分子机制。