Heat stress is one of the adverse effects on
productivity in the livestock. In pig, it is shown that the
growth rate decreases under heat stress conditions.
Moreover, it is reported that genetic variation is associated
with heat stress tolerance. However, much less study has
been done on identification of candidate genes and pathways
associated with heat stress tolerance in pig. Here, this study
aimed to identify the candidate genes and pathways
associated with heat stress tolerance for growth rate in pig
using microarray and RNA-seq. These methods were used to
investigate differences in small intestine gene expression
profiles among two finishing pig groups (high-tolerant and
low-tolerant) with divergent heat stress tolerance for growth
rate under heat stress conditions and control finishing pig
group under non-heat stress conditions. The results of
microarray and RNA-seq, respectively, showed that a total
of 1277 genes for microarray and 2970 genes for RNA-seq
were regarded as the genes showing heat stress responsive
differential expression profiles associated with heat stress
tolerance, and also 825 genes for microarray and 1233 genes
for RNA-seq were upregulated and 452 genes for microarray and 1737 genes for RNA-seq were downregulated in hightolerant
group as compared to low-tolerant group. Among
these genes, we found overrepresentation of a set of genes
involved in TGFβ signaling pathway. The gene set
exhibited differential expression profiles between hightolerant
and low-tolerant groups which are reported to lead
to activation of TGFβ signaling pathway, resulting in cell
differentiation and regeneration of intestinal cell in hightolerant
group. These results suggested that the TGFβ
signaling pathway was identified as the intriguing pathway
showing heat stress-responsive activation associated with
heat stress tolerance for growth rate in small intestine of
finishing pig.
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