Understanding seasonal weight loss tolerance in dairy goats: a transcriptomics approach

Seasonal weight loss is one of the most important limitations to ruminant production in drought-prone regions. In these regions and under the dry season, animals may lose up to 30% of their body weight, conditioning production performance. It is of the utmost importance to understand the physiological basis of tolerance to SWL, particularly by contrasting breeds that are susceptible and tolerant to SWL. In this study, transcriptomics was used to describe the gene expression effects of feed restriction in dairy goat of two breeds with different SWL tolerance: Majorera (tolerant) and Palmera (susceptible). Two control and two restricted groups per breed were established: Majorera Control (adequately fed; MC; n=4), Palmera Control (adequately fed; PC; n=6), Majorera Restricted (feed restricted; ME; n=5) and Palmera Restricted (feed restricted; PE; n=4). On day 22 of the trial, mammary gland biopsies were collected for transcriptomics analysis. Results were obtained using Next Generation RNA sequencing and validation using qPCR. Twelve mRNA libraries were constructed, 3 biological replicates per group were created. Comparison between control vs. underfed groups. The groups are MC – Majorera Control; PC – Palmera Control; ME – Majorera Restricted; PE – Palmera Restricted