Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes Associated with Litter Size in Berkshire Pig Placenta

PLoS One. 2016 Apr 14;11(4):e0153311. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153311. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Improvement in litter size has become of great interest in the pig industry because fecundity is directly related to sow reproductive life. Improved reproduction has thus been achieved by elucidating the molecular functions of genes associated with fecundity. In the present study, we identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) via transcriptomic analysis using RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) in Berkshire pig placentas from larger (LLG, mean litter size >12) and smaller (SLG, mean litter size < 6.5) litter size groups. In total 588 DEGs were identified (p < 0.05, > 1.5-fold change), of which 98 were upregulated, while 490 were downregulated in the LLG compared with the SLG. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment was also performed. We concluded that 129 of the 588 DEGs were closely related to litter size according to reproduction related genes selected based on previous reports, as 110 genes were downregulated and 19 upregulated in the LLG compared with the SLG. RT-qPCR utilizing specific primers targeting the early growth response 2 (EGR2), pheromaxein c subunit (PHEROC) and endothelial lipase (LIPG) genes showed high accordance with RNA-Seq results. Furthermore, we investigated the upstream regulators of these three genes in the placenta. We found that WNT9B, a Wnt signaling pathway molecule, and IL-6, known inducers of EGR2 and LIPG, respectively, were significantly increased in LLG compared with SLG. We believe that the induction of IL-6 and LIPG may play an important role in increasing nutrition supply through the placenta from the sow to the piglet during gestation. These results provide novel molecular insights into pig reproduction.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling / methods
  • Gene Ontology
  • Litter Size / genetics*
  • Placenta / metabolism*
  • Pregnancy
  • Reproduction / genetics
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Analysis, RNA
  • Swine / genetics*
  • Transcriptome*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Priority Research Centers Program (no.2011-0022965) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, from the Export Promotion Technology Development Program (no. 313012-05) of Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of Korea. The Dasan Pig Breeding Co. provided support in the form of a salary for author HCP, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.