Metabolomics of Eothenomys miletus from five Hengduan Mountains locations in summer

Hai-Ji Zhang,Wan-Long Zhu,Zheng-Kun Wang

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51493-2

Abstract

Climatic characteristics of Hengduan Mountains region were diverse, and Eothenomys miletus was a native species throughout this region. To investigate adaptive strategies of E. miletus to environmental factors in different locations in this region, five locations were selected, including Deqin (DQ), Xianggelila (XGLL), Lijiang (LJ), Jianchuan (JC) and Ailaoshan (ALS). Then, body mass, visceral organ masses, and serum and liver metabolomes of E. miletus from each location were examined. The results showed that body mass was significantly different among these five sites. Liver mass was lower in ALS than in other locations. PLS-DA analysis, metabolite tree maps and heat maps of serum and liver metabolites showed that samples from DQ and XGLL clustered together, as did the samples from LJ, JC and ALS. Serum concentrations of lipid and amino acid metabolites, concentrations of TCA cycle intermediates, lipid metabolites and amino acid metabolites in livers from DQ and XGLL were higher than those from other three regions. However, the concentrations of glycolytic metabolites were lower in DQ and XGLL. All these results indicated that E. miletus adapts to changes in environmental temperature and altitude of this region by adjusting body mass and serum and liver metabolite concentrations.

Highlights

Metabolomics aims to detect, identify and quantify all metabolites in biological samples[1,2]
Differences in body mass were found among the five locations (F = 3.54, P < 0.05); body mass was higher in ALS and lower in DQ (Table 2)
Body mass was negatively correlated with liver wet mass (r = −0.61, P < 0.01), masses of other visceral organs were not related to body mass (P > 0.05)

Summary

Introduction

Metabolomics aims to detect, identify and quantify all metabolites in biological samples[1,2]. Studies have shown that variations in liver glucose reflect changes in energy metabolism[10]. Physiological regulations of body mass and energy metabolism are the main strategies used by small mammals to cope with environmental changes[14]. E. miletus is reported to show seasonal variations in body mass and to increase its metabolic rate and reduce its serum leptin levels under cold exposure or short photoperiod conditions[21,22,23]. Changes in body mass and metabolome of E. miletus in different locations in the Hengduan Mountains. We hypothesize that E. miletus in different locations can adjust these traits to adapt to the differences in environmental temperature and altitude across the Hengduan Mountains region. We predicted that E. miletus would show lower body mass and higher lipid and amino acid metabolite concentrations in cold locations

Methods

Results

Conclusion