Effects of maternal early gestational weight gain on skeletal muscle gene expression profile in F1 and F2 beef cattle offspring

Introduction Maternal nutrition during early gestation is associated with metabolic and immunological adaptations that may influence postnatal growth, with possible long-term and multigenerational effects. Methods This study evaluated how the rate of maternal body weight gain in F0 dams during early gestation affects gene expression in the skeletal muscle of F1 offspring and their F2 fetuses. A subset of 16 crossbred Angus heifers (F0) were assigned to a low gain (LG; 0.28 kg/day) or moderate gain (MG; 0.79 kg/day) treatment during the first 84 days of gestation. Results and discussion F1 heifers from the LG group showed upregulation of PCK2 , ARG2 , PHGDH , PSAT1 , PSPH , and ASNS , associated with the biological processes cytochrome complex assembly, mitochondrion organization, mitochondrial gene expression, and mitochondrial transport, relative to the MG group, suggesting greater metabolic plasticity and possible compensatory adjustments related to satellite cell function and postnatal muscle hypertrophy. Conversely, the upregulation of TNFAIP3 , ITGB2 , EOGT , BOLA-NC1 , and C4A in F1 heifers from the MG group, associated with the pathways cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), antigen processing and presentation, and cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, may be related to the activation of local immunomodulatory mechanisms and to the preservation of skeletal muscle structural integrity. At the multigenerational level, the modulation of ITGB2 , BOLA-NC1 , C4A , and TNFAIP3 in F1 and F2 progeny from the MG group, associated with enrichment of the CAMs pathway and consistent negative regulation of thermogenesis, oxidative phosphorylation, and ribosome pathways relative to the LG group, together with the positive regulation of bta-miR-133a-1 in the LG progeny, points to the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in the coordination of persistent metabolicand myogenic adjustments across generations. Moreover, the maternal rate of body weight gain during early gestation is associated with metabolic changes that support postnatal hypertrophic growth and with local immunological modulation in skeletal muscle, with multigenerational molecular outcomes.