Effect of maternal methionine supplementation on the transcriptome of bovine preimplantation embryos

Maternal nutrition exclusively during the periconceptional period can induce remarkable effects on both oocyte maturation and early embryo development, which in turn can have lifelong consequences. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of maternal methionine supplementation on the transcriptome of bovine preimplantation embryos. Holstein cows were randomly assigned to one of two treatments differing in level of dietary methionine (1.89 Met vs. 2.43 Met % of metabolizable protein) from calving until embryo flushing. High quality preimplantation embryos from individual cows were pooled and then analyzed by RNA sequencing. A total of eight Holstein dairy cows were used in this study. Preimplantation embryos recovered from each cow were pooled in order to generate two replicates per cow assayed. Each pool consisted of 2-4 expanded blastocysts with excellent quality. Overall, a total of 16 embryo pools underwent RNA extraction, amplification, and subsequent sequencing.