Liver transcriptome analysis reveals important factors involved in the metabolic adaptation of the transition cow.
- Ha NT Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Goettingen, 37075 Goettingen, Germany. Electronic address: nha@gwdg.de.
- Drögemüller C Institute for Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland.
- Reimer C Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Goettingen, 37075 Goettingen, Germany.
- Schmitz-Hsu F Swissgenetics, 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland.
- Bruckmaier RM Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland.
- Simianer H Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Goettingen, 37075 Goettingen, Germany.
- Gross JJ Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland.
- 2017-09-04
Published in:
- Journal of dairy science. - 2017
RNA sequencing (RNA-seq)
hepatic transcriptome
metabolic adaptation
transition cow
Adaptation, Physiological
Animals
Cattle
Energy Metabolism
Female
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation
Genome
Gluconeogenesis
Lactation
Lipid Metabolism
Liver
Parity
Parturition
Postpartum Period
Pregnancy
Transcriptome
English
During early lactation, dairy cows experience a severe metabolic load often resulting in the development of various diseases. The inevitable deficiency in nutrients and energy at the onset of lactation requires an optimal adaptation of the hepatic metabolism to overcome metabolic stress. We conducted a whole-liver transcriptome analysis for the transition cow to identify novel factors crucial for metabolic adaptation. Liver samples were obtained from 6 Red Holstein dairy cows (parity 2 to 7, mean ± standard deviation: 3.7 ± 2.3) at 3 time points: T1 = 22 ± 4 d antepartum, T2 = 10 ± 2 d postpartum, and T3 = 17 ± 2 d postpartum. Using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), we studied the transcriptomic profile of the transition cow before and after parturition. We performed a differential gene expression analysis (DGEA) and gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA) for biological processes (gene ontology, GO) and pathways (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, KEGG). Among the 10,186 expressed genes, we discovered 1,063 differentially expressed genes (false discovery rate = 5%). The GSEA revealed 16 biological processes and 7 pathways significantly (false discovery rate = 5%) associated with the hepatic changes of the transition cow. Our results confirm that major hepatic changes are related to energy mobilization after parturition; in particular, they are related to fatty acid oxidation/metabolism, cholesterol metabolism, and gluconeogenesis. Using the STRING database (https://string-db.org/), we investigated interactions between significant genes and identified 9 key genes (CYP7A1, APOA1, CREM, LOC522146, CYP2C87, HMGCR, FDFT1, SGLE, and CYP26A1) through which the different processes involved in the metabolic adaptation interact. Comparing our main results with the literature, we could identify further genes that have not yet been associated with the transition period (e.g., CPT1B, ADIPOR2, LEPR, CREB3L3, and CCND1) and that are mainly involved in processes controlled by AMP-activated protein kinase, an important regulator of energy homeostasis.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- bronze
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.3168/jds.2016-12454
- PMID 28865861
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/177982
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