An examination of skeletal muscle and hepatic tissue transcriptomes from beef cattle divergent for residual feed intake
The selection of cattle with enhanced feed efficiency is of paramount importance with regard to reducing feed costs in the beef industry. Global transcriptome profiling was undertaken on liver and skeletal muscle biopsies from Simmental heifers and bulls divergent in residual feed intake (RFI) feed efficiency phenotype, in order to identify genes that may be associated with this trait. We identified 5 genes (adj.p<0.1) to be differentially expressed in skeletal muscle between high and low RFI heifers with all transcripts involved in oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial homeostasis. A total of 11 genes (adj.p<0. 1) were differentially expressed in liver tissue between high and low RFI bulls with differentially expressed genes related to amino and nucleotide metabolism as well as endoplasmic reticulum protein processing. No genes were identified as differentially expressed in either heifer liver or bull muscle analyses. Results from this study show a clear effect of gender to the underlying molecular control of RFI in cattle, which may be attributable to differences in the physiological age between heifers and bulls. Despite this we have highlighted a number of genes that may hold potential as molecular biomarkers for RFI cattle.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Posted 17 Dec, 2020
An examination of skeletal muscle and hepatic tissue transcriptomes from beef cattle divergent for residual feed intake
Posted 17 Dec, 2020
The selection of cattle with enhanced feed efficiency is of paramount importance with regard to reducing feed costs in the beef industry. Global transcriptome profiling was undertaken on liver and skeletal muscle biopsies from Simmental heifers and bulls divergent in residual feed intake (RFI) feed efficiency phenotype, in order to identify genes that may be associated with this trait. We identified 5 genes (adj.p<0.1) to be differentially expressed in skeletal muscle between high and low RFI heifers with all transcripts involved in oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial homeostasis. A total of 11 genes (adj.p<0. 1) were differentially expressed in liver tissue between high and low RFI bulls with differentially expressed genes related to amino and nucleotide metabolism as well as endoplasmic reticulum protein processing. No genes were identified as differentially expressed in either heifer liver or bull muscle analyses. Results from this study show a clear effect of gender to the underlying molecular control of RFI in cattle, which may be attributable to differences in the physiological age between heifers and bulls. Despite this we have highlighted a number of genes that may hold potential as molecular biomarkers for RFI cattle.
Figure 1
Figure 2