Ethanol's Effect on Coq7 Expression in the Hippocampus of Mice.

Diana Zhou,Wenyuan Zhao,Kristin M Hamre,Athena Starlard-Davenport,Lu Lu,Byron C Jones,Melloni N Cook,Michael Hook,Yinghong Zhao

doi:10.3389/fgene.2018.00602

Abstract

Coenzyme Q (CoQ) is a well-studied molecule, present in every cell membrane in the body, best known for its roles as a mitochondrial electron transporter and a potent membrane anti-oxidant. Much of the previous work was done in vitro in yeast and more recent work has suggested that CoQ may have additional roles prompting calls for a re-assessment of its role using in vivo systems in mammals. Here we investigated the putative role of Coenzyme Q in ethanol-induced effects in vivo using BXD RI mice. We examined hippocampal expression of Coq7 in saline controls and after an acute ethanol treatment, noting enriched biologic processes and pathways following ethanol administration. We also identified 45 ethanol-related phenotypes that were significantly correlated with Coq7 expression, including six phenotypes related to conditioned taste aversion and ethanol preference. This analysis highlights the need for further investigation of Coq7 and related genes in vivo as well as previously unrecognized roles that it may play in the hippocampus.

Highlights

Coenzyme Q (CoQ or ubiquinol) is a lipophilic molecule present in every cell membrane in the body (Crane, 2001; Turunen et al, 2004)
Much of the early genetic work regarding CoQ stemmed from submitochondrial fraction studies (Mellors and Tappel, 1966; Landi et al, 1984) and yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (GonzálezMariscal et al, 2014), which highlighted CoQ biosynthesis as necessary for mitochondrial antioxidant defense, with less CoQ production resulting in impaired defenses and increased presence of anti-oxidant molecules
We found 45 ethanol-related phenotypes significantly correlated with Coq7 expression (Supplementary Table 5), most of which are related to ethanol consumption, ethanol response, ethanol preference, and body temperature after ethanol treatment; some of which are mapped near Coq7 location

Summary

Introduction

Coenzyme Q (CoQ or ubiquinol) is a lipophilic molecule present in every cell membrane in the body (Crane, 2001; Turunen et al, 2004). CoQ production in any species is the result of a complex biosynthesis process involving 10 to 15 or more genes (depending on the species) encoding a series of enzymes and non-enzymatic proteins, many of which belong to the Coq family of genes (Coq 1 – Coq 10A/B) (Acosta et al, 2016, see their Table 1 and Figure 1 for a complete list) Despite this molecule being characterized and isolated nearly 60 years ago (Festenstein et al, 1955; Wolf et al, 1958; Crane et al, 1989), it continues to remain relevant through ongoing investigations that are fine-tuning its roles in bioenergetics and anti-oxidant defense.

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