Time change in expression vs time change in phenotype

Question

[Ivan]

Hello everyone;

We have a prospective study for which at two time points (t1,t2) we collected blood samples and some quantitative traits Q. Using DESeq2, we can ask if the blood gene expression E at t1 or t2 is associated with these traits. In other words, we can test E_t1 ~ Q_t1, then E_t2 ~ Q_t2.

Question: is there a way to test: (E_t2 - E_t1) ~ (Q_t2 - Q_t1) ??? We would like to know if the change in Q is associated with the change in E. What would be the design equation in DESeq2 for that?

Thank you very much!