Characterization and Comparative Analysis of the Milk Transcriptome in Two Dairy Sheep Breeds using RNA Sequencing.

ABSTRACT: This study presents a dynamic characterization of the sheep milk transcriptome aiming at achieving a better understanding of the sheep lactating mammary gland. Transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed on total RNA extracted from milk somatic cells from ewes on days 10, 50, 120 and 150 after lambing. The experiment was performed in Spanish Churra and Assaf breeds, which differ in their milk production traits. Nearly 67% of the annotated genes in the reference genome (Oar_v3.1) were expressed in ovine milk somatic cells. For the two breeds and across the four lactation stages studied, the most highly expressed genes encoded caseins and whey proteins. We detected 573 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across lactation points, with the largest differences being found, between day 10

SUBMITTER: Suarez-Vega A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4683406 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature