Transcriptome profiling of follicular development-related genes in 2-, 6-, and 12-month-old sheep ovaries

Transcriptome profiling of follicular development-related genes in 2-, 6-, and 12-month-old sheep ovaries. The results showed that 98, 1478, and 974 differentially expressed genes(DEGs) were identified in 2- vs 6-month-old, 6- vs 12-month-old, and 2- vs 12-month-old ovaries, respectively. Gene Ontology(GO) analysis showed that the following: DEGs in 2- vs 6-month-old ovaries were mainly related to the GO terms apoptotic process and regulation of mitochondrial organization; in 6- vs 12-month-old ovaries, most of the GO terms involving DEGs were related to metabolism and translation processes; in 2- vs 12-month-old ovaries, most of the GO terms that involving DEGs were related to cell adhesion. In a KEGG analysis, in 2- vs 6-month-old and 6- vs 12-month-old ovaries, nucleotide excision repair was the most significantly enriched pathway; in 2- vs 12-month-old ovaries, the ribosome pathway was the most significantly enriched term.