Use of short-term high energy dietary for estimating transcriptional profiling of liver tissues in sheep

This study aimed to evaluate if short-term high energy dietary has any stimulatory effects on liver function and metabolic status in sheep. The experiment was carried out using 30 DorsetxHan crossbred ewes (age, 9 {+/-} 0.6 months; weight, 36.58 {+/-} 2.56kg) allocated into two treatments, the control group (DE 11.72 MJ/d; DP 79.71 g/d) and the high energy group (DE18.75 MJ/d; DP 108.44 g/d), respectively. Experiment lasted 20 days, including 10 d for adaption. Blood samples of these ewes were collected to detect the concentrations of glucose, insulin, leptin, and cholesterol, respectively. Then, animals were sacrificed and optimal liver samples subjected to explore the genome-wide transcriptome analysis. Results showed that the weight gain was significantly increased in the high energy group, compared with those in the control group (p< 0.01). The concentrations of glucose, insulin, leptin, and cholesterol were also influenced by short-term nutritional supplementation at different levels. Subsequently, 622 differentially expressed genes were identified by pairwise comparison. Of these, 271 genes were down regulated while 351 genes were up regulated. qRT-PCR analysis of 10 randomly selected genes were consistent with the sequencing results. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways revealed 12 DEGs (including PDK4, ABCA9, ALDH6A1, SLC45A3, G0S2, PPARGC1, GHRHR, GHR, DGKI, SOCS2, LPIN1 and CSKMT) were significantly enriched in cellular carbohydrate catabolic and metabolic process, phosphorelay sensor and phosphotransferase kinase activity, generation of precursor metabolites and energy, lipid metabolic and transport process, positive regulation of cellular metabolic process, acyl-CoA desaturase activity and monosaccharide metabolic process. Additionally, we concluded an interaction network related to energy metabolism, which might be contributed to elucidate the precise molecular mechanisms of related genes associated with energy metabolism in the liver tissues of sheep.