Hepatic Transcriptomic Signatures for Beef Steer Feed Efficiency Phenotypes

108 crossbred beef steers were fed for 49 days to determine residual average daily gain (RADG). Liver biopsies from the 8 most and 8 least efficient animals identified 16,735 differentially expressed genes based on FDR ≤ 0.05 and |log2FC| ≥ 1.0. The dataset, created by Modoluwamu Idowu and last updated in April 2026, provides candidate genes and pathways for studying feed efficiency mechanisms in cattle.

Use Cases

• Identify candidate genes for feed efficiency based on differential expression between high and low RADG phenotypes.
• Analyze enriched biological processes like extrinsic apoptotic signaling and immune activation associated with divergent growth efficiency.
• Study pathway enrichment related to protein digestion, carbohydrate absorption, and cytoskeletal organization in muscle cells.
• Validate highly connected gene network nodes such as COL2A1, E2F8, SLC2A5, and GZMA in functional studies.

Strengths

• Includes data from 108 steers with an average body weight of 495 ± 32 kg, providing a defined animal cohort.
• Differential expression analysis identified 16,735 genes meeting statistical thresholds (FDR ≤ 0.05, |log2FC| ≥ 1.0).
• Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment analyses provide functional context for the transcriptional signatures.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small in scale at 499.9 KB, indicating limited raw data volume.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Liver biopsies collected from steers after a 49-day feeding trial with intake monitored by GrowSafe8000 nodes.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 05:38:22; freshness should be verified.