Multi-Omics: Serum Host Biomarkers of Chicken Infection
- Jun 21
- 4 min read
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Campylobacter jejuni sits quietly in the chicken gut, leaving no clinical signs while it seeds roughly half of slaughtered poultry and drives about 95 million human gastroenteritis cases each year. That silence is the problem. Flocks look healthy right up to processing, so contamination is hard to flag early. Our Dalton Bioanalytics scientists co-authored this multi-omics study, part of our published research, which profiled proteins, lipids, and metabolites together in the serum of 14-day-old broiler chickens to surface host factors that move with C. jejuni colonization and with an in-water eugenol nanoemulsion treatment. A single LC-MS injection measured 1,216 analytes per bird.
Reading Host Response Through Multi-Omics Serum Profiling
Three broiler groups were studied at ten birds each: a negative control, a positive control challenged with C. jejuni on day 7, and a group given 0.125% eugenol nanoemulsion in drinking water. Serum drawn on day 14 ran through the Omni-MS multiomic workflow, which resolved 527 proteins, 407 lipids, 275 compounds, and 7 inorganics from one extract. Differential signals were tested by linear regression with false discovery rate correction. Building on earlier work from Hashimoto and colleagues (2021) linking CREG1 to renal senescence, the team read raised CREG1 as an inflammation signal rather than noise.
Key Findings
CREG1 climbed sharply in colonized birds, consistent with neutrophil degranulation and an active inflammatory state.
The apoptosis activator BID also rose, hinting that colonization nudges programmed cell death at the molecular level.
Immunity-linked species dropped: sphingosine SP d18:1, the DNA-sensing protein HMGB3, and several plasmenyl-phosphatidylcholines all fell in challenged birds.
Two markers tracked the infection upward, creatinine and 3-[2-(3-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl]-5-methoxyphenol.
Eugenol left its own metabolic fingerprint, lifting 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid, taurine, pyridoxal, and indole-3-lactic acid.
Colonization fell with treatment; the 0.125% dose cut cecal C. jejuni by about 2.5 log CFU per gram versus positive controls.
Figure 1. Volcano plot of differentially expressed serum analytes in broiler chickens challenged with C. jejuni on day 7 (positive control) against unchallenged negative controls, measured on day 14 with Omni-MS multiomic technology. Points above the dashed line clear an FDR of 0.01 (blue) or 0.05 (green). Adapted from Wagle et al. (2023).
What the Falling Plasmalogens Signal
Plasmenylcholines guard membranes against lipid oxidation, so their drop in colonized birds reads as weakened antioxidant defense rather than a random shift. The pattern held only in the colonization comparison, not between eugenol-treated and untreated infected birds, which points to C. jejuni itself as the driver. It is a confirmatory signal more than a discovery, and the small flock size means the effect sizes still need replication.
Eugenol's Metabolic Footprint
The rise in 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid, a serotonin pathway metabolite, was the strongest eugenol-associated change. Earlier poultry work tied similar serotonin and tryptophan shifts to gut microbial activity, so part of this footprint probably reflects altered gut metabolism rather than a direct serum effect.
From One Sample to Three Omics Layers
Pulling proteins, lipids, and metabolites from one serum draw is what let this study connect an inflammation marker like CREG1 to falling plasmalogens in the very same birds, a link that split-sample assays tend to blur. Running every layer from a single injection, the basis of the Omni-MS approach behind our multi-omics services at Dalton, removes the sample-volume and batch-effect tradeoffs that complicate cross-omics analysis. For teams designing multi-omics biomarker discovery programs at this scale, that single-sample design is often what makes a small-cohort signal worth chasing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is multi-omics analysis used for?
Multi-omics analysis measures several molecular layers, such as proteins, lipids, and metabolites, from one sample to see how they change together. It is used to find biomarkers, map disease mechanisms, and connect signals a single assay would miss.
What did the multi-omics study find in Campylobacter-colonized chickens?
Colonization raised inflammation and apoptosis markers, including CREG1 and BID, while lowering immunity-linked sphingosine, HMGB3, and plasmalogen lipids. Eugenol separately increased antioxidant metabolites and cut cecal Campylobacter counts.
How many samples does a multi-omics serum study need, and what does it measure?
This study used ten birds per group and one serum draw per animal. A single LC-MS run quantified 1,216 analytes spanning proteins, lipids, compounds, and inorganics, so per-sample depth offsets a modest cohort.
Conclusion
That C. jejuni reshapes the chicken serum proteome and lipidome is now believable, and eugenol's antioxidant signature is a plausible lead for intervention. What is not yet proven is whether any single analyte works as a field biomarker, given ten birds per group and one time point. For discovery teams, the practical value sits in the single-injection design, which keeps inflammation, apoptosis, and lipid-defense readouts on one analytical footing.
Related Reading
See how we run these analyses in one lab: Dalton's multi-omics CRO services.
Citation
Wagle, B. R., Quach, A., Yeo, S., Assumpcao, A. L. F. V., Arsi, K., Donoghue, A. M., and Jesudhasan, P. R. R. (2023). A multiomic analysis of chicken serum revealed the modulation of host factors due to Campylobacter jejuni colonization and in-water supplementation of eugenol nanoemulsion. Animals, 13(4), 559.
Note
This blog post summarizes findings from the above-cited research. Figures are adapted from the original publication. For full details, please refer to the source article.
By Seungjun Yeo, CEO at Dalton Bioanalytics. Specializing in multi-omics mass spectrometry for drug discovery and biomarker research.
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