Comparative RNA-seq analysis of fetal and maternal guinea pig liver transcriptomes reveals widespread transcriptional divergence.

This study compares hepatic transcriptomes from fetal and maternal guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) liver to characterize developmental differences and to evaluate the effect of a maternal treatment. A total of 12 biological samples were included: liver tissue from 6 dams fed a Western diet (3 treated with dimethyl fumarate, 3 control) and liver tissue from 6 corresponding fetuses (fetuses of the 3 treated dams are classified as exposed; fetuses of the 3 control dams are unexposed). Thus the design includes two main factors: tissue (maternal vs fetal) and treatment (treated vs control). For the maternal vs fetal comparison, each group has n = 6 biological replicates.