Ovarian proteomic study reveals the possible molecular mechanism for hyperprolificacy of Small Tail Han sheep.

Xiangyang Miao,Xiaoyu Qin,Qingmiao Luo,Huijing Zhao

doi:10.1038/srep27606

Xiangyang Miao, Xiaoyu Qin + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27606

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Abstract

Small Tail Han sheep is a widely bred farm animal in China which has attracted lots of attention due to their high prolificacy and year-round estrus. However, the molecular mechanism of its fecundity remains unrevealed. The FecB gene polymorphism has been found to be associated with the ovulation rate and litter size of sheep. In the present study, we constructed an iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics analysis to compare the ovarian proteomes of FecB+FecB+ genotype Small Tail Han sheep ewes (Han ++), FecBBFecBB Han ewes (Han BB) and Dorset ewes (Dorset). Hundreds of differentially expressed proteins between each two groups were identified; GO and KEGG pathway analysis indicated that the expressions of those proteins involved in ribosome assembly, protein translation and mTOR pathway between Dorset and both Han groups were highly different. Between Han ++ and Han BB groups, higher level of protein expressions were related to mitochondrial oxidation functions such as oxidoreductase activity, cytochrome-c oxidase activity and electron carrier activity. This was identified in Han BB group, which may contribute to the elevated ovulation rate of Han BB ewes. In conclusion, our work provided a prospective understanding of the molecular mechanism for high prolificacy of Small Tail Han sheep.

Highlights

Sheep (Ovis aries) is an important farm animal to modern agriculture, which provides sources of meats and milk for daily diets, fiber and fur for textile industry
We conduct an isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ)-based proteomic strategy to compare the differences of ovarian proteomes among Dorset sheep (Dorset), Small Tail Han sheep with FecBBFecBB genotype (Han BB) and Small Tail Han sheep with FecB+FecB+ genotype (Han ++)
By comparing Han BB and Han ++groups, we find that the most enriched gene ontology (GO) terms are related to mitochondrial membrane (Figure S7)

Summary

Introduction

Sheep (Ovis aries) is an important farm animal to modern agriculture, which provides sources of meats and milk for daily diets, fiber and fur for textile industry. Small Tail Han sheep is a typical year-round ovulatory sheep bred in China with hyperprolificacy[3]. Our previous transcriptomic studies successfully identified the potential genes and miRNA regulators of fecundity[11,12,13] How these genes affect the sheep ovarian structure and function to subsequently cause the difference of ewe prolificacy remains unclear. The present study aims to identify the ovarian differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between highly prolific Small Tail Han sheep and relatively lowly prolific Dorset sheep, in hopes of at least partially revealing www.nature.com/scientificreports/. Our findings provide better understanding of the molecular mechanism for the high prolific rate of Small Tail Han sheep, as well as guidance on the cross breeding of Dorset ×Han sheep

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