Effect of Gender to Fat Deposition in Yaks Based on Transcriptomic and Metabolomics Analysis.

Xiaoyun Wu,Lin Xiong,Jie Pei,Xian Guo,Qudratullah Kalwar,Ping Yan

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.653188

Abstract

Fat deposition in yaks plays an important part in survival, multiplication, and meat quality. In this work, the characteristic of fat deposition in male yaks (MYs) and female yaks (FYs) and the regulations of gender to yak fat deposition were explored by mRNA-Seq and non-targeted metabolomics analyses. FYs possessed a higher body fat rate (BFR) of visceral fat, fat content in longissimus dorsi (LD) and liver, and subcutaneous fat thickness (p < 0.05). The fat and cholesterol synthesis in liver and the fat transport in FY blood increased. The fat metabolism in yaks is the combined effect of carbohydrate, fatty acid, and amino acid metabolism by tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and an increase of triglyceride (TG) synthesis was accompanied by an increase of steroid synthesis. The high levels of myo-inositol and cortisol (COR) (p < 0.01) activated the calcium signaling in FY subcutaneous fat, followed by the increase of adipocyte secretion, and resulted in more leptin (LEP) secretion (p < 0.01). Then peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling was activated by the focal adhesions and ECM–receptor interaction. Finally, the TG and steroid synthesis increased by the expression regulation of ME1, SCD, ELOVL6, DGAT2, DBI, LPL, CPT1, PLIN1, LIPA, DHCR24, and SQLE gene. The above genes can be considered as the candidate genes for yak with higher fat amount in molecular breeding in the future. This study can provide a theoretical basis for improving the meat quality and breeding of yaks.

Highlights

Fat is very important to livestock and plays a key role in energy metabolism and animal product quality (Sadkowski et al, 2014; Gomez et al, 2018; Guo et al, 2018; Mason et al, 2019; Silva et al, 2019; Albuquerque et al, 2020)
We have investigated the effect of gender to fat deposition in yaks
The transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses indicated that fat metabolism in yak is the combined effect of carbohydrate, fatty acid, and amino acid metabolism

Summary

Introduction

Fat is very important to livestock and plays a key role in energy metabolism and animal product quality (Sadkowski et al, 2014; Gomez et al, 2018; Guo et al, 2018; Mason et al, 2019; Silva et al, 2019; Albuquerque et al, 2020). As a classic grazing livestock, yaks suffer longterm starvation during the cold season and maintain life of its own by fat mobilization. The pregnancy and parturition of female yaks (FYs) largely depend on fat storage. Yak meat is the major animal protein in local human diet (Guo et al, 2014; Wen et al, 2015). Low fat content in yak meat leads to bad tenderness, flavor, and processability

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion