title: Maternal nutrition induces gene expression changes in fetal muscle and adipose tissues in sheep.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maternal nutrition during different stages of pregnancy can induce significant changes in the structure, physiology, and metabolism of the offspring. These changes could have important implications on food animal production especially if these perturbations impact muscle and adipose tissue development. Here, we evaluated the impact of different maternal isoenergetic diets, alfalfa haylage (HY; fiber), corn (CN; starch), and dried corn distillers grains (DG; fiber plus protein plus fat), on the transcriptome of fetal muscle and adipose tissues in sheep.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prepartum diets were associated with notable gene expression changes in fetal tissues. In longissimus dorsi muscle, a total of 224 and 823 genes showed differential expression (FDR ≤0.05) in fetuses derived from DG vs. CN and HY vs. CN maternal diets, respectively. Several of these significant genes affected myogenesis and muscle differentiation. In subcutaneous and perirenal adipose tissues, 745 and 208 genes were differentially expressed (FDR ≤0.05), respectively, between CN and DG diets. Many of these genes are involved in adipogenesis, lipogenesis, and adipose tissue development. Pathway analysis revealed that several GO terms and KEGG pathways were enriched (FDR ≤0.05) with differentially expressed genes associated with tissue and organ development, chromatin biology, and different metabolic processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings provide evidence that maternal nutrition during pregnancy can alter the programming of fetal muscle and fat tissues in sheep. The ramifications of the observed gene expression changes, in terms of postnatal growth, body composition, and meat quality of the offspring, warrant future investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1675 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA. fpenagarican@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Peñagaricano
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guilherme Jm
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Radunz
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Khatib
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D011247:Pregnancy; D034561:Sheep, Domestic; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*