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Transcriptomic analysis of sheep hypothalamus discloses regulatory genes potentially involved in sex-dependent differences in body weight of progeny born to dams supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids or methionine during late-gestation.
- Source :
-
Journal of animal science [J Anim Sci] 2024 Jan 03; Vol. 102. - Publication Year :
- 2024
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Abstract
- Fetal programming research conducted in sheep has reported sexually dimorphic responses on growth of the progeny born to in-utero methionine or omega-3 fatty acids supplementation. However, the biological mechanism behind the nutrient by sex interaction as a source of variation in offspring body weight is still unknown. A high-throughput RNA sequencing data of hypothalamus samples from 17 lambs were used in the current study to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between males and females born to dams supplemented with different nutrients during late-gestation. Ewes received a basal diet without omega-3 fatty acids or methionine supplementation as the control (CONT); omega-3 fatty acids supplementation (FAS), or methionine supplementation (METS). A list of regulated genes was generated. Data were compared as CONT vs. FAS and CONT vs. METS. For CONT vs. METS, a treatment by sex interaction was found (adjusted P-value < 0.05) on 121 DEGs (112 upregulated and 9 downregulated) on female lambs born to METS compared with METS males. Importantly, with the sex interaction term, more than 100 genes were upregulated in female lamb's hypothalamuses born to METS. Gene Ontology (GO) and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) were performed using the DEGs from female lambs. Terms under biological process (related to morphogenesis, organism, and tissue development), cellular component (related to chromatin, extracellular components), and molecular function (involved in chromatin structure and transcription and factors linked to binding DNA) were presented (adjusted P-value < 0.05) for GO. For the IPA, the top-scoring network was developmental disorder, endocrine system development and function, and organ morphology. Only a few differences were observed in the comparison between the interaction of sex and treatment for the CONT vs. FAS comparison. The markedly increased number of DEGs substantially involved in developmental and growth processes indicates the extent to which maternal methionine supplementation causes the sexually dimorphic effects observed in the offspring.<br /> (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)
- Subjects :
- Animals
Female
Male
Sheep physiology
Sheep growth & development
Pregnancy
Animal Feed analysis
Transcriptome
Gene Expression Profiling
Sex Characteristics
Sex Factors
Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Methionine administration & dosage
Methionine pharmacology
Fatty Acids, Omega-3 administration & dosage
Fatty Acids, Omega-3 pharmacology
Dietary Supplements
Hypothalamus metabolism
Hypothalamus drug effects
Body Weight
Diet veterinary
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1525-3163
- Volume :
- 102
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of animal science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 38864402
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skae160