Animal Genomics and Bioinformatics Division, National Institute of Animal Science, 1500, K & P road, Iseo, Wanju, JB, 55365, South Korea.
Environmental Science Division, National Institute of Animal Science, 1500, K & P road, Iseo, Wanju, JB, 55365, South Korea.
Int J Biometeorol. 2017 Nov;61(11):1993-2008. doi: 10.1007/s00484-017-1392-3. Epub 2017 Sep 12.
RNA-Seq analysis was used to characterize transcriptome response of Holstein calves to thermal stress. A total of eight animals aged between 2 and 3 months were randomly selected and subjected to thermal stress corresponding to a temperature humidity index of 95 in an environmentally controlled house for 12 h consecutively for 3 days. A set of 15,787 unigenes were found to be expressed and after a threshold of threefold change, and a Q value <0.05; 502, 394, and 376 genes were found to be differentially expressed on days 1, 2, and 3 out of which 343, 261 and 256 genes were upregulated and 159, 133, and 120 genes were downregulated. Only 356 genes out of these were expressed on all 3 days, and only they were considered as significantly differentially expressed. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that ten pathways were significantly enriched; the top two among them were protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum and MAPK signaling pathways. These results suggest that thermal stress triggered a complex response in Holstein calves and the animals adjusted their physiological and metabolic processes to survive. Many of the genes identified in this study have not been previously reported to be involved in thermal stress response. The results of this study extend our understanding of the animal's response to thermal stress and some of the identified genes may prove useful in the efforts to breed Holstein cattle with superior thermotolerance, which might help in minimizing production loss due to thermal stress.
RNA-Seq 分析用于描述荷斯坦小牛对热应激的转录组反应。总共随机选择了 8 头年龄在 2 到 3 个月之间的动物，并在环境可控的房屋中连续 3 天每天 12 小时承受相当于 95 温度湿度指数的热应激。发现一组 15787 个基因表达，阈值为 3 倍变化，Q 值<0.05；第 1、2 和 3 天分别有 502、394 和 376 个基因差异表达，其中 343、261 和 256 个基因上调，159、133 和 120 个基因下调。这些基因中只有 356 个在所有 3 天都表达，只有这些基因被认为是显著差异表达的。KEGG 通路分析表明有 10 个通路显著富集；其中前两个是内质网蛋白加工和 MAPK 信号通路。这些结果表明，热应激触发了荷斯坦小牛的复杂反应，动物调整了生理和代谢过程以生存。本研究中鉴定的许多基因以前没有报道与热应激反应有关。本研究的结果扩展了我们对动物对热应激反应的理解，一些鉴定的基因可能在培育具有卓越耐热性的荷斯坦牛的努力中有用，这可能有助于最大限度地减少因热应激造成的生产损失。
