RESEARCH PAPER

Effects of Dietary Protein Level during Late Gestation on Lactation Performance of Tibetan Ewes and Analysis of Mammary Gland Transcriptome

  • ZHOU Li ,
  • JIANG Yangyang ,
  • LI Jiangwei ,
  • ZHANG Fengshuo ,
  • YANG Baochun ,
  • WANG Zhiyou ,
  • GUI Linsheng ,
  • HOU Shengzhen
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  • College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China

Received date: 2021-10-27

  Online published: 2022-07-14

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of dietary protein level during late gestation period on milk yield, milk composition and gene expression of mammary tissue in Tibetan ewes. Sixty late-gestation ewes were randomly divided into 2 groups with 30 ewes per group. Ewes in the 2 groups were fed diets with 7.5% (LP group) and 11.5% (HP group) protein, respectively. The experiment lasted for 65 days (days 85 to 150 after mating) with 5 days for adaptation and 60 days for test. After the experiment, RNA-seq technology was employed for mammary tissue. GO functional annotation and KEGG enrichment analysis were used to determine the functions of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) was employed for the verification of DEGs. The results showed as follows:the average daily gain of newborn lambs in HP group were significantly higher than that in LP group (P<0.05). Compared with LP group, the daily milk yield, milk lactose percentage, milk fat percentage and milk protein percentage of Tibetan ewes in HP group were significantly increased (P<0.05). Transcriptome analysis of mammary gland showed that 152 766 266 and 159 469 210 clean reads were produced in LP and HP groups, respectively. A total of 40 DEGs were selected, among which 11 genes were up-regulated and 29 genes were down-regulated. The functions of these DEGs were classified into 29 GO items, and the DEGs were mainly concentrated in cellular process, cell part, binding and other functions. KEGG pathway analysis showed that 30 differentially signaling pathways were enriched (P<0.05), including Rap1 signaling pathway, nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, fructose and mannose metabolism, mineral absorption and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/serine-threonine kinase (PI3K-Akt) signaling pathway. Using the RT-qPCR technology, the expression of glucose and lipid related DEGs, such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), cyclin D1 (CCND1), signal transduction and transcriptional activation factor 3 (STAT3), sarcoma (SRC) and type Ⅳ collagen A5 (COL6A5) were verified, which confirmed the reliability of RNA-seq results. In conclusion, increasing dietary protein level of Tibetan ewes during late gestation can not only improve the average daily gain of lambs, but also regulate the glucose and lipid metabolism of Tibetan ewes and affect their lactation performance.

Cite this article

ZHOU Li , JIANG Yangyang , LI Jiangwei , ZHANG Fengshuo , YANG Baochun , WANG Zhiyou , GUI Linsheng , HOU Shengzhen . Effects of Dietary Protein Level during Late Gestation on Lactation Performance of Tibetan Ewes and Analysis of Mammary Gland Transcriptome[J]. Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2022 , 34(7) : 4610 -4620 . DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-267x.2022.07.049

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