Abstract
Milk fat globule (MFG) size is a milk production trait characteristic to the individual animal and has important effects on the functional and nutritional properties of milk. Although the regulation of MFG size in the mammary epithelial cell is not fully understood, lipid droplet (LD) fusion prior to secretion is believed to play a role. We selected cows that consistently produced milk with predominantly small or large MFGs to compare their lipidomic profiles, with focus on the polar lipid fraction. The polar lipid composition of the monolayer surrounding the LD is believed to either promote or prevent LD fusion. Using a targeted LC–MS/MS approach we studied the relative abundance of 301 detected species and found significant differences between the studied groups. Here we show that the lipidomic profile of milk from small MFG cows is characterised by higher phosphatidylcholine to phosphatidylethanolamine ratios. In contrast, the milk from large MFG cows contained more ether-phosphatidylethanolamine species. This is the first time that a potential role for ether-phosphatidylethanolamine in MFG size development has been suggested.
Highlights
Milk fat globule (MFG) size is a milk production trait characteristic to the individual animal and has important effects on the functional and nutritional properties of milk
Milk from small MFG (SMFG) cows contained more PC relative to PE compared to large MFG (LMFG) cows, a finding that is in accordance with some of the available literature
A novel finding of the current study was that the lipidomic profile of milk from the LMFG group was characterised by increased levels of plasmanyl- and plasmenyl-PE
Summary
Milk fat globule (MFG) size is a milk production trait characteristic to the individual animal and has important effects on the functional and nutritional properties of milk. The regulation of MFG size in the mammary epithelial cell is not fully understood, lipid droplet (LD) fusion prior to secretion is believed to play a role. We selected cows that consistently produced milk with predominantly small or large MFGs to compare their lipidomic profiles, with focus on the polar lipid fraction. The milk from large MFG cows contained more ether-phosphatidylethanolamine species This is the first time that a potential role for etherphosphatidylethanolamine in MFG size development has been suggested. Milk lipids are secreted from the mammary epithelial cell as spherical structures termed milk fat globules (MFGs). Most of the available evidence in the literature is based on studies in non-mammary cells, this important role of the polar lipid composition of the LD monolayer in the regulation of LD fusion has been demonstrated in mammary epithelial c ells[8].
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