The Impact of Maternal and Piglet Low Protein Diet and Their Interaction on the Porcine Liver Transcriptome around the Time of Weaning

Maternal diet during early gestation affects offspring phenotype, but it is unclear whether maternal diet during late gestation influences piglet metabolism. We evaluated the impact of two dietary protein levels in sow late gestation diet and piglet nursery diet on piglet metabolism. Diets met or exceeded the crude protein and amino acid requirements. Sows received either 12% (Lower, L) or 17% (Higher, H) crude protein (CP) during the last five weeks of gestation, and piglets received 16.5% (L) or 21% (H) CP from weaning at age 3.5 weeks. This resulted in a 2 × 2 factorial design with four sow/piglet diet treatment groups: HH and LL (match), HL and LH (mismatch). Piglet hepatic tissues were sampled and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were determined by RNA sequencing. At age 4.5 weeks, 25 genes were downregulated and 22 genes were upregulated in the mismatch compared to match groups. Several genes involved in catabolic pathways were upregulated in the mismatch compared to match groups, as were genes involved in lipid metabolism and inflammation. The results show a distinct interaction effect between maternal and nursery diets, implying that sow late gestation diet could be used to optimize piglet metabolism.