[Blood transcriptome analysis reveals the gene expression features of breast-feeding period infants in rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta)].

: The infants during the breast-feeding period are underwent physiological and developmental remarkable changes. However, little is known about the gene expression features and the sex-specific gene expression of breast-feeding period infants. In this study, we sequenced 32 blood transcriptomes from 16 breast-feeding period infants of rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) and their lactating mothers. We identified 218 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between infants and their mothers, including 91 up-regulated and 127 down-regulated DEGs in the infant group. Functional enrichment analysis with up-regulated DEGs or unique hub genes in infants both were mainly enriched in immune, growth and development. The protein-protein interaction analysis also revealed that genes at the key positions in infants were mainly related to development and immunity. However, we only detected 23 DEGs between female and male infants, including two DEGs located on Chromosome X and 11 DEGs located on Chromosome Y. One of the 23 DEGs was TMF1 regulated nuclear protein 1 (Trnp1), which was highly expressed in the female infants, was crucial to control the tangential and radial expansion of the cerebral cortex in mammals. Our study provides novel insights into the gene expression features of breast-feeding period infants in non-human primate, and also reveals the sex-specific gene expression between these infants.