Transcriptomics of the liver and the muscle from in vitro or in vivo-produced dairy male calves

In cattle, the in vitro production (IVP) of embryos is becoming more relevant than embryos produced in vivo, i.e., after ovarian stimulation and embryo transfer (MOET). However, the effects of IVP on the developmental programming of specific organs in the postnatal calves are yet unknown. The objective of this study was to compare the hepatic and muscular transcriptomic modifications between IVP and MOET male calves of three months of age (n=4 per group). Tissue samples from liver and semitendinosus muscle were obtained at 3 months of age, and the extracted RNA was sequenced through RNAseq to determine differentially expressed genes (DEG; FDR<0.05). KEGG pathways enrichment analysis showed that DEG up-regulated in the liver and the muscle of the IVP calves were involved in oxidative phosphorylation and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. In contrast, ribosome and translation were up-regulated in the liver but down-regulated in the muscle of the IVP calves compared to the MOET calves (FDR<0.05). In conclusion, our findings indicated an altered hepatic and muscular energy regulation in phenotypically normal IVP calves compared to MOET calves. Samples were obtained from the liver and muscle from three-month-old IVP calves (n=4) and control MOET calves (n=4). The samples in this study are from the same animals as the samples in GSE176219.