Transcriptome analysis revealed differences in gene expression in sheep muscle tissue at different developmental...

Area of Science:

• Animal Genomics
• Developmental Biology
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Analyzing gene expression in sheep muscle across different ages aids understanding of muscle development.
• This study investigates gene expression in the longissimus dorsi muscle of Hu, Suffolk, and East Friesian hybrid sheep at two developmental stages (2 days and 8 months).

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in sheep longissimus dorsi muscle during development.
• To perform Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis on DEGs.
• To validate gene expression levels using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR).

Main Methods:

• Transcriptome sequencing of longissimus dorsi muscle from three sheep breeds/hybrids at two ages.
• Identification of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across groups.
• Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of shared DEGs.
• Validation of nine randomly selected DEGs using qRT-PCR.

Main Results:

• Identified 842, 1301, and 1137 DEGs in Hu, SH, and EHH groups, respectively.
• 191 DEGs were common across all three strains, including PFDN6, DNAJA4, and MYH8.
• Enrichment analysis revealed significant pathways related to muscle protein synthesis and energy metabolism, such as ribosomes, unfolded protein binding, FoxO signaling, glycolysis, and glutathione signaling.
• qRT-PCR results confirmed the reliability of the transcriptome sequencing data.

Conclusions:

• This study highlights critical genes and signaling pathways involved in sheep skeletal muscle development.
• The findings provide a foundational understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying sheep muscle growth.