Abstract
Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for growth and immune function in beef cattle. We previously showed that supranutritional maternal organic Se supplementation during late pregnancy improves immune function in their newborn calves; however, the effects of maternal organic Se-supplementation on fetal programming during different pregnancy stages have yet to be elucidated. Herein, we investigated the effects of supranutritional maternal organic Se-supplementation in different pregnancy trimesters on their beef calf’s genome-wide transcriptome profiles. Within 12 to 48 h of birth, whole blood and Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle biopsies were collected from calves born to 40 crossbred Angus cows that received, except for the control group (CTR), Se-yeast boluses (105 mg of Se/wk) during the first (TR1), second (TR2), or third (TR3) trimester of gestation. Whole-blood Se concentrations of newborn calves increased from CTR, TR1, TR2 to TR3, whereas muscle Se concentrations of newborn calves were only increased in TR3 group. We identified 3048 unique differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across all group comparisons (FDR ≤ 0.05 and |log2FC| ≥ 1.5). Furthermore, we predicted 237 unique transcription factors that putatively regulate the DEGs. Independent of supplementation trimester, supranutritional maternal organic Se supplementation downregulated genes involved in adaptive immunity in all trimesters. Dependent on supplementation trimester, genes involved in muscle development were upregulated by TR3 Se supplementation and downregulated by TR1 Se-supplementation, and genes involved in collagen formation were downregulated by TR2 Se-supplementation. Supranutritional maternal organic Se supplementation in the last trimester of pregnancy resulted in upregulation of myosin and actin filament associated genes, potentially allowing for optimal muscle function and contraction. Our findings suggest a beneficial effect of supranutritional maternal organic Se supplementation during late gestation on Se-status and muscle development and function of newborn calves.
Highlights
Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient that exerts its functions by incorporating selenocysteine into various selenoproteins, which have oxidoreductase activity [1]
It is well documented that Se deficiency results in neuromuscular diseases, such as nutritional myodegeneration and nutritional muscular dystrophy [6]
We mined the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) lists in two different ways: first, we examined the DEG lists of the three Se-supplementation vs. control group (CTR) comparisons (Figure 1) and identified shared
Summary
Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient that exerts its functions by incorporating selenocysteine into various selenoproteins, which have oxidoreductase activity [1]. Metabolic functions of selenoproteins include regulation of redox homeostasis, energy homeostasis, and thyroid hormone activation [2]. Selenoproteins can modulate metabolic functions through transcriptome [3] and epigenome [4] regulation. Because soils in large parts of the US are Se deficient, cattle in these regions are typically Se-supplemented [5]. It is well documented that Se deficiency results in neuromuscular diseases, such as nutritional myodegeneration (white muscle disease) and nutritional muscular dystrophy [6]. Our knowledge about how maternal Se supplementation affects skeletal muscle development is primarily limited to avian and monogastric species [1,7,8]
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