Whole blood transcriptome analysis in ewes fed with hemp seed supplemented diet

the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa L.) has a long tradition of being used for many di erent purposes such as industry, medicine and nutrition. In particular, because hemp seed (HS) is rich in oil protein and considerable amounts of dietary ber, vitamins and minerals that are particularly suitable also for animal nutrition. Di erent studies have evaluated HS on qualitative and quantitative properties of livestock products but as of today, nobody has investigated the molecular pathway behind HS supplementation in farm animals. Thus, in this study, we will report the rst RNA sequencing of the whole-blood transcriptome of ewes fed either with a controlled diet (CTR, n = 5) or with a diet supplemented with 5% of hemp seed (HSG, n = 5). Applying a false discovery rate (FDR) <0.05 and a log2FC either higher than 0.5 or lower than −0.5, we identi ed 314 di erentially regulated genes in the HS-supplemented group compared to the CTR group. Several genes encoding for di erent subunits belonging to the complex I, II, III, IV and ATP-synthase were up-regulated making oxidative phosphorylation (FDR: 3.05e-19) and thermogenesis (FDR: 2.17e-16) the highest up-regulated pathways in our study. Moreover, we found up-regulation in di erent genes involved in lactose biosyntheses such as GALK1 and PGM1 and, as a result, we observed a statistically higher lactose percentage in the HSG group (p < 0.05). These results indicate that HS supplementation positively a ects the energy production pathway in lactating ewes conferring them also more resistance to adverse climatic conditions such as low temperature. Finally, the higher milk lactose content makes the derived dairy products more pro table.