GEO series

Liver FGF21 mediates sex-specific adaptation to juvenile protein malnutrition

GSE302336 Mus musculus (mouse) RNA-seq (gene expression) 20 samples Submitted 2025/07/16 Platform GPL19057

At a glance

RNA-seq (gene expression) · mouse · 20 samples

What it is: RNA-seq (gene expression)Gene activity measured by sequencing. The summary does not mention single-cell work, so this is most likely bulk: one average per sample, the usual starting point for comparing groups.
Organism: Mus musculus (mouse)
Samples: 20 samples: 5 × Liver, male, CD, vs 5 × Liver, male, LPD, vs 5 × Liver, female, CD, vs 5 × Liver, female, LPD,Groups are read from the sample names, not from the paper. Check the list below.
Data you can get: A processed table (series matrix) and supplementary files from NCBI; the raw sequencing reads from ENA. Which of these hold counts depends on the study, so check the file list.

Summary (written by the submitters)

Dietary protein sufficiency during childhood is essential for healthy growth and tissue development. Chronic protein deficiency leads to stunting, height-for-age more than two standard deviations below the median, and affects 149 million children under five (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073791). Linear growth is governed by the somatotropic axis, wherein pituitary growth hormone (GH) stimulates hepatic insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) to promote bone elongation1.

Read the full summary ↓

Although boys are consistently more stunted than girls across populations (ranging from 18% to 45%)2,3, mechanisms underlying this apparent resilience remain unclear. Rodent studies suggest that the protein-to-carbohydrate ratio modulates life-history traits such as metabolism, lifespan, and reproduction, with evidence of sex-dependent sensitivity4,5. Whether such dimorphism reflects coordinated developmental adaptations in response to protein scarcity, particularly in females, has not been fully explored. Here, we show that juvenile dietary protein restriction causes sexually dimorphic adaptations with pronounced stunting in males and delayed reproductive maturation in females. Using liver-specific deletion, we identify fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) as a sex-specific hepatic regulator of female somatic growth and reproductive development, revealing a dimorphic endocrine adaptation to early-life protein scarcity. Our findings position FGF21 as a critical metabolic checkpoint coordinating growth and reproductive timing in response to nutritional stress.

This dataset

Open GSE302336 in finder → Find more mouse RNA-seq datasets →

Download · which file do I need?

Direct links to NCBI and ENA, no account and no request form. Pick by what you want to do: take the small processed table to look, the supplementary files to re-analyse, or the original raw data to start over.

1 · Just have a look

Processed table

The series matrix: one table of values per sample as the submitters processed it. The smallest download, and it opens in Excel or R. Start here to see what the data look like.

Series matrix ↓

2 · Re-analyse it

Supplementary files

The count tables and other files the authors uploaded. Take only the samples you need, or the whole study as GSE302336_RAW.tar (it can run to tens of gigabytes).

All supplementary files ↗ Whole study · RAW.tar ↓

3 · Start from the raw reads

Raw sequencing reads

The original FASTQ files, straight from the sequencer, held at ENA. Large, and you align them yourself, so only choose this if you need to re-process the study from scratch.

Raw reads on ENA ↗

What the files usually look like: For RNA-seq the counts are usually a table among the supplementary files (look for 'counts', 'expression', 'FPKM' or 'TPM' in the file name). The series matrix of a sequencing study is sometimes nearly empty.

Also filed as BioProject PRJNA1290107 and SRA study SRP600074. Searching any of these in the dataset finder brings you back here.

NCBI GEO page ↗

Study design

5 × Liver, male, CD, vs 5 × Liver, male, LPD, vs 5 × Liver, female, CD, vs 5 × Liver, female, LPD,

Supports a between-group comparison across 20 samples.

How we read this: 4 replicated groups read from 20 sample titles; they account for 20 of them. These groups are guessed from the sample names, not taken from the paper, so check them against the sample list below before relying on them.

Samples in this study

GSM9102185 Liver, male, CD, rep 1 Liver, male, CD,
GSM9102186 Liver, male, CD, rep 2 Liver, male, CD,
GSM9102187 Liver, male, CD, rep 3 Liver, male, CD,
GSM9102188 Liver, male, CD, rep 4 Liver, male, CD,
GSM9102189 Liver, male, CD, rep 5 Liver, male, CD,
GSM9102190 Liver, male, LPD, rep 1 Liver, male, LPD,
GSM9102191 Liver, male, LPD, rep 2 Liver, male, LPD,
GSM9102192 Liver, male, LPD, rep 3 Liver, male, LPD,
GSM9102193 Liver, male, LPD, rep 4 Liver, male, LPD,
GSM9102194 Liver, male, LPD, rep 5 Liver, male, LPD,
GSM9102195 Liver, female, CD, rep 1 Liver, female, CD,
GSM9102196 Liver, female, CD, rep 2 Liver, female, CD,
GSM9102197 Liver, female, CD, rep 3 Liver, female, CD,
GSM9102198 Liver, female, CD, rep 4 Liver, female, CD,
GSM9102199 Liver, female, CD, rep 5 Liver, female, CD,
GSM9102200 Liver, female, LPD, rep 1 Liver, female, LPD,
GSM9102201 Liver, female, LPD, rep 2 Liver, female, LPD,
GSM9102202 Liver, female, LPD, rep 3 Liver, female, LPD,
GSM9102203 Liver, female, LPD, rep 4 Liver, female, LPD,
GSM9102204 Liver, female, LPD, rep 5 Liver, female, LPD,

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