Gene expression
Do human and cattle transcriptomes match?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Across 10,830 human and 4,866 cattle RNA-seq samples (20 tissues, 17,315 orthologs), expression, cis-eQTLs, and co-expression were generally conserved, and GWAS heritability sat more in conserved than diverged genes.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Computational / modelling — Comparative RNA-seq of GTEx v8 vs CattleGTEx across 20 matched tissues, then GWAS heritability enrichment
- N
- N=15696 · 10,830 human GTEx RNA-seq samples plus 4,866 cattle RNA-seq samples; 17,315 one-to-one orthologs; GWAS for 46 human traits (mean n=327,973) and 45 cattle traits (mean n=24,635)
- Population
- Human GTEx v8 and CattleGTEx transcriptomes in 20 shared tissues; large-scale human and cattle GWAS
- Outcome
- Cross-species conservation of mean expression, cis-eQTLs, co-expression, and heritability enrichment in conserved vs diverged genes
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
Key findings
Mean/median expression, inter-individual variation, eQTLs, and co-expression were generally conserved (e.g. Spearman r=0.59 for numbers of expressed genes across tissues). Testis expressed the most genes in both species. Heritability of complex traits was significantly more enriched in transcriptionally conserved genes.
Methodology
Compared GTEx v8 and CattleGTEx RNA-seq in 20 matched tissues, focusing on 17,315 one-to-one orthologs, then overlaid cis-eQTLs and co-expression with 46 human (mean n=327,973) and 45 cattle (mean n=24,635) GWAS.
Limitations
Conservation of expression is not proof that cattle are a disease model for any given human trait; RNA-seq matching and GWAS overlap do not replace functional experiments.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
Not yet placed on a claim. This paper has study layers, but no concept page yet cites it as support, challenge, or qualifier.
Related papers in this topic
Same topic cluster — not a recommendation engine.