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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Warmwater Aquaculture Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #375738
Research Project: Biophotonics - The Application of Novel Imaging Methodologies to Livestock Production Research

Location: Warmwater Aquaculture Research Unit

Title: A nutrigenomics approach using RNA sequencing technology to study nutrient–gene interactions in agricultural animals

Author
item SHAMIMUL, HASAN - Mississippi State University
item FEUGANG, JEAN - Mississippi State University
item LIAO, SHENGFA - Mississippi State University

Submitted to: Current Developments in Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/8/2019
Publication Date: 7/15/2019
Citation: Shamimul, H., Feugang, J., Liao, S. 2019. A nutrigenomics approach using RNA sequencing technology to study nutrient–gene interactions in agricultural animals. Current Developments in Nutrition. 3:18.

Interpretive Summary: The fast-growing human population worldwide demands more food of animal origin, which is especially true in the developing countries with rising living standards. The limited natural resources (e.g., the land area and clean water reserves), however, negatively affect the scale and productivities of animal production, leading to an urgent need for developing novel production strategies, such as molecular-based precision animal agriculture, to improve animal production efficiency. Thorough understanding of animal gene expression driven by dietary nutrients can be regarded as a bottom line of advanced animal nutrition research. RNA-Seq holds significant potential to be employed for better understanding the nutrient–gene interactions in agricultural animals.

Technical Abstract: Nutrigenomics (including transcriptomics) studies the effects of dietary nutrients on cellular gene expression and, ultimately, phenotypic changes in living organisms. Transcriptomics can be applied to investigate animal tissue transcriptomes at a defined nutritional state, which can provide a holistic view of intracellular RNA expression. As a novel transcriptomics approach, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology can monitor all gene expressions simultaneously in response to dietary intervention. The principle and history of RNA-Seq are briefly reviewed, and its 3 principal steps are described in this article. Application of RNA-Seq in different areas of animal nutrition research is summarized. Lastly, the application of RNA-Seq in swine science and nutrition is also reviewed.