LIVER TRANSCRIPTOMA PROFILE OF PIGS FED WITH FISH OIL ENRICHED DIET

Abstract

Lipids are essential energy sources in the human diet, as they act directly on body homeostasis. Supplementation of animal diets with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) can bring important benefits to their health and performance, since these fatty acids have functional properties that act in the regulation of gene expression, immune response and inflammation. Therefore, this work seeks to understand the potential effect of fatty acids from an oil source rich in PUFA, when added to the diet of swine, on the transcriptomic profile of the liver of these animals. For this, data from the liver transcriptome (RNA-Seq) of 36 homozygous-negative halothane (NN) and Large White male immunocastrated pigs from the Jovem Pesquisador project (FAPESP process number 2017/25180-2) will be analyzed. These animals were divided into two groups, in which one group received a basal diet containing corn and soybean meal with 1.5% soybean oil (a diet commonly used in commercial farms) and the other group a basal diet containing corn and soybean meal with 3% fish oil from sardines (Cetengraulis edentulus) for an experimental period of 98 days. The results obtained here will contribute to a better understanding of the effect of PUFAs as functional components of animal diets, as well as their role as an immunonutrient. This project also has the importance of training the student in research and in an emerging area such as functional genomics and bioinformatics, with a focus on nutrigenomics.