Multiple-Omics analysis revealed the high fiber diets promote the gluconeogenesis and inhibit the glycolysis process in muscle

Abstract Background In a previous study, we found that the human essential fatty acid is significantly increased in the mutton fed with the Ceratoides pellets comparing with the alfalfa pellets, which is not consistent with common sense. Results In this study, to investigate the influence mechanisms of meat quality of twins sheep with two kinds of feed high fiber low protein (HFLP) forage (Ceratoides) and low fiber high protein (LFHP) forage (alfalfa), multi-omics techniques were utilized for integration analysis based on the feed nutrition, microbiome, transcriptome, metabolome and fatty acids profile. The results showed that the production performance and the muscle components of lambs were significantly affected by feeds. The lamb muscles fed HFLP have increased the content of essential fatty acid (linoleic acid and arachidonic acid). The diversity of rumen microbes in lamb with HFLP has increased than those of LFHP. The ratio of the Bacteroidetes and the Firmicutes in the rumen of the sheep fed the LFHP was 2.6 times higher than that of the HFLP. The transcriptome analysis of muscle revealed that those genes related with the glucose metabolic process and fat acids biosynthesis were significantly differentially expressed in the muscle of the lamb with two feeds. Conclusion The feed system could affect the epigenetic regulation of those genes that are involved in glucose metabolic pathway. HFLP feeds could induce the gluconeogenesis to maintain the glucose level in blood, which resulted in the fat content of muscle decreasing. The multiple-Omics analysis showed that the microbiota structure is significantly correlated with the metabolome and the gene expression in muscle. This study laid a theoretical foundation for controlling the nutrient intake of sheep, modifying its fatty acid spectrum, and removing the material which was detrimental to the quality of mutton, which could guide the directive sheep feeding for functional mutton.