Emerging Roles of Non-Coding RNAs in the Feed Efficiency of Livestock Species

Abstract

A global population of already more than seven billion people has led to an increased demand for food and water, and especially the demand for meat. Moreover, the cost of feed used in animal production has also increased dramatically, which requires animal breeders to find alternatives to reduce feed consumption. Understanding the biology underlying feed efficiency (FE) allows for a better selection of feed-efficient animals. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), especially micro RNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), play important roles in the regulation of bio-logical processes and disease development. The functions of ncRNAs in the biology of FE have emerged as they participate in the regulation of many genes and pathways related to the major FE indicators, such as residual feed intake and feed conversion ratio. This review provides the state of the art studies related to the ncRNAs associated with FE in livestock species. The contribution of ncRNAs to FE in the liver, muscle, and adipose tissues were summarized. The research gap of the function of ncRNAs in key processes for improved FE, such as the nutrition, heat stress, and gut–brain axis, was examined. Finally, the potential uses of ncRNAs for the improvement of FE were discussed.

Application of Genetic, Genomic and Biological Pathways in Improvement of Swine Feed Efficiency

“…In pigs, the advancement of genomic technologies has enabled researchers to perform different GWAS studies to identify genomic regions and candidate genes associated with economically important traits, including meat quality and quantity, reproductive traits, and FE traits. To date, 34,342 QTLs for 708 different traits have been mapped in the pig genome ( Hu G et al, 2022 ). Taking different FE indicators into account, 410 QTLs for FCR, 96 QTLs for RFI, 143 QTLs for DFI, and 815 QTLs for ADG presented in the animal QTL database by December 2021 ( Hu G et al, 2022 ).…”

“…To date, 34,342 QTLs for 708 different traits have been mapped in the pig genome ( Hu G et al, 2022 ). Taking different FE indicators into account, 410 QTLs for FCR, 96 QTLs for RFI, 143 QTLs for DFI, and 815 QTLs for ADG presented in the animal QTL database by December 2021 ( Hu G et al, 2022 ). The descriptive information of GWAS studies for FE traits in pigs is shown in Supplementary Table S2 .…”

“…In recent years, numerous “omics” technologies such as proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, and metagenomics have generated valuable data in the research of FE in pigs. For instances, transcriptomic studies have reported many non-coding RNAs involving in regulation of feed efficiency in pigs ( Hu G et al, 2022 ). Over time, integrating such technologies can give us more accurate selection of animals with better FE.…”

Genetic basis of muscle‐related traits in sheep: A review

“…It has been shown that IGF1 gene up-regulation in muscle tissue of Kermani lamb fed with fennel in the diet significantly had greater femur muscle weight, back muscle weight, lean meat weight, final weight, warm carcass weight, and live daily gain than the control one (Shahsavari et al, 2021). In a review study, Hu et al (2022) provided a list of ovine micro RNAs that regulate IGF2, MEF2C, MYEF2, and RB1, which are associated with skeletal muscle differentiation, myelin expression, myogenic differentiation, and proliferation of skeletal muscle sheep F I G U R E 5 The ovine micro RNAs that regulate IGF2, MEF2C, MYEF2, and RB1, which were associated with muscle traits in sheep (retrieved from Hu et al, 2022) satellite cells 5). c.654G>A nucleotide subin exon 3 of the IGF1R gene traits was also reported essential for growth, body size, slaughter, and meat quality in the Colored Polish Merino sheep breed (Grochowska et al, 2020).…”

“…The ovine micro RNAs that regulate IGF2 , MEF2C , MYEF2 , and RB1 , which were associated with muscle traits in sheep (retrieved from Hu et al, 2022)…”