TY - JOUR
T1 - Liver transcriptomic networks reveal main biological processes associated with feed efficiency in beef cattle
AU - Alexandre, Pamela A.
AU - Kogelman, Lisette J.A.
AU - Santana, Miguel H.A.
AU - Passarelli, Danielle
AU - Pulz, Lidia H.
AU - Fantinato-Neto, Paulo
AU - Silva, Paulo L.
AU - Leme, Paulo R.
AU - Strefezzi, Ricardo F.
AU - Coutinho, Luiz L.
AU - Ferraz, José B.S.
AU - Eler, Joanie P.
AU - Kadarmideen, Haja N.
AU - Fukumasu, Heidge
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) for financial support (process. numbers: 2014/02493-7; 2014/07566-2) and scholarship for PA Alexandre (2012/14792-3; 2014/00307-1). HN Kadarmideen thanks EU-FP7 Marie Curie Actions – Career Integration Grant (CIG-293511) for partially funding his time spent on this research. The authors thank Dr. JF Medrano for the technical advice on RNAseq and experimental design.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Alexandre et al.
PY - 2015/12/18
Y1 - 2015/12/18
N2 - Background: The selection of beef cattle for feed efficiency (FE) traits is very important not only for productive and economic efficiency but also for reduced environmental impact of livestock. Considering that FE is multifactorial and expensive to measure, the aim of this study was to identify biological functions and regulatory genes associated with this phenotype. Results: Eight genes were differentially expressed between high and low feed efficient animals (HFE and LFE, respectively). Co-expression analyses identified 34 gene modules of which 4 were strongly associated with FE traits. They were mainly enriched for inflammatory response or inflammation-related terms. We also identified 463 differentially co-expressed genes which were functionally enriched for immune response and lipid metabolism. A total of 8 key regulators of gene expression profiles affecting FE were found. The LFE animals had higher feed intake and increased subcutaneous and visceral fat deposition. In addition, LFE animals showed higher levels of serum cholesterol and liver injury biomarker GGT. Histopathology of the liver showed higher percentage of periportal inflammation with mononuclear infiltrate. Conclusion: Liver transcriptomic network analysis coupled with other results demonstrated that LFE animals present altered lipid metabolism and increased hepatic periportal lesions associated with an inflammatory response composed mainly by mononuclear cells. We are now focusing to identify the causes of increased liver lesions in LFE animals.
AB - Background: The selection of beef cattle for feed efficiency (FE) traits is very important not only for productive and economic efficiency but also for reduced environmental impact of livestock. Considering that FE is multifactorial and expensive to measure, the aim of this study was to identify biological functions and regulatory genes associated with this phenotype. Results: Eight genes were differentially expressed between high and low feed efficient animals (HFE and LFE, respectively). Co-expression analyses identified 34 gene modules of which 4 were strongly associated with FE traits. They were mainly enriched for inflammatory response or inflammation-related terms. We also identified 463 differentially co-expressed genes which were functionally enriched for immune response and lipid metabolism. A total of 8 key regulators of gene expression profiles affecting FE were found. The LFE animals had higher feed intake and increased subcutaneous and visceral fat deposition. In addition, LFE animals showed higher levels of serum cholesterol and liver injury biomarker GGT. Histopathology of the liver showed higher percentage of periportal inflammation with mononuclear infiltrate. Conclusion: Liver transcriptomic network analysis coupled with other results demonstrated that LFE animals present altered lipid metabolism and increased hepatic periportal lesions associated with an inflammatory response composed mainly by mononuclear cells. We are now focusing to identify the causes of increased liver lesions in LFE animals.
KW - Co-expression network
KW - Inflammation
KW - Lipid metabolism
KW - Residual feed intake
KW - Residual intake and body weight gain
KW - RNA-Seq
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949793648&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12864-015-2292-8
DO - 10.1186/s12864-015-2292-8
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 26678995
AN - SCOPUS:84949793648
SN - 1471-2164
VL - 16
JO - BMC Genomics
JF - BMC Genomics
IS - 1
M1 - 1073
ER -