Isolation and characterization of a human cDNA encoding a protein homologous to the 7.2-kDa protein (subunit X) of bovine ubiquinol-cytochrome C reductase

Transcriptome-wide analysis reveals gluten-induced suppression of small intestine development in young chickens

Wheat gluten is an increasingly common ingredient in poultry diets but its impact on the small intestine in chicken is not fully understood. This study aimed to identify effects of high-gluten diets on chicken small intestines and the variation of their associated transcriptional responses by age. A total of 120 broilers (Ross Strain) were used to perform two animal experiments consisting of two gluten inclusion levels (0% or 25%) by bird’s age (1 week or 4 weeks). Transcriptomics and histochemical techniques were employed to study the effect of gluten on their duodenal mucosa using randomly selected 12 broilers (3 chicks per group). A reduction in feed intake and body weight gain was found in the broilers fed a high-gluten containing diet at both ages. Histochemical photomicrographs showed a reduced villus height to crypt depth ratio in the duodenum of gluten-fed broilers at 1 week. We found mainly a significant effect on the gene expression of duodenal mucosa in gluten-fed broilers at 1 week (289 differentially expressed genes [DEGs]). Pathway analyses revealed that the significant DEGs were mainly involved in ribosome, oxidative phosphorylation, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathways. These pathways are involved in ribosome protein biogenesis, oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid metabolism, respectively. Our results suggest a pattern of differential gene expression in these pathways that can be linked to chronic inflammation, suppression of cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. And via such a mode of action, high-gluten inclusion levels in poultry diets could lead to the observed retardation of villi development in the duodenal mucosa of young broiler chicken.

Ubiquinol–cytochrome-c reductase 7.2 kDa protein of mitochondrial complex III is steroid-responsive and increases in cardiac hypertrophy and hypertension

Women and men do not respond identically to cardiac insults; premenopausal women are somewhat protected from cardiovascular disease. Our objective was to isolate and characterize hormone-responsive genes in the heart. Differential display identified an estrogen-inducible fragment that was found to encode the ubiquinol–cytochrome-c reductase (UCCR) 7.2 kDa protein of the mitochondrial respiratory complex III. We found UCCR7.2 mRNA to be highly expressed in the heart, and this expression increased in hearts of 4-, 10-, and 28-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) compared with normotensive Wistar–Kyoto rats. Oral hydralazine treatment to reduce hypertension reduced SHR UCCR7.2 expression. Cardiac UCCR7.2 mRNA expression was also increased significantly after a 5/6 nephrectomy compared with mock surgery. Cardiac expression after ovariectomy was 50% that of intact rats. Supplementation of ovariectomized rats with estrogen had no effect, whereas progesterone increased cardiac expression, although not to intact levels. No change in cardiac UCCR7.2 expression was found when intact rats were treated with either tamoxifen or ICI 182780. Thus, UCCR7.2 expression is reduced in the absence of ovarian hormones, but is not directly regulated by estrogen in the heart. We conclude that UCCR7.2 is a steroid hormone-responsive gene in the heart, with expression increased in cardiac hypertrophy and in response to hypertension.