The effect of dietary methionine restriction using different protein sources on the transcriptome of mouse livers

Dietary Methionine restriction (MR) has been demonstrated to induce a set of hepatic responses, including activation of hepatic stress response and suppression of hepatic lipogenesis. In the current study, we used two different protein sources to achieve MR. Casein was used in normal protein (NP, 20% casein) and low protein (LP, 5% casein) diet. Soy protein was used in 20Soy (20% soy), 20Soy+SAA (20% soy, Met and Cys was added back to match their concentration in NP diet), and 10Soy (11.5% soy, the Met concentration matches LP diet). Results show that mice that were fed LP and 10Soy diet have lower body weight and adiposity and increased food and water intake, energy expenditure, and serum FGF21 levels compared to their relative controls. The RNAseq experiment was conducted to compare the effect of MR using these two protein sources on the hepatic transcriptome. Comparison of the effects of MR implemented in two intact protein sources, casein (each 6 samples from NP and LP fed mice) and soy (each 6 samples from 20Soy, 20Soy+SAA, and 10Soy diets). The additonal control soy diet (20Soy+SAA) is designed to isolate the effect of Methinone restriction from protein restriction.