Effect of riboflavin-binding protein deficiency on riboflavin metabolism in the laying hen

Effect of Dietary Riboflavin Levels on Reproductive Performance of Pigeon Breeders, and Growth Performance and Carcass Traits of Offspring Squabs

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary riboflavin levels on the reproductive performance of pigeon breeders and the growth performance and carcass traits of offspring squabs to estimate the riboflavin requirement of pigeon breeders. The natural riboflavin content in the basic diet of corn-peas-soybean-wheat-sorghum-corn gluten is 1.20 mg/kg. Different doses of riboflavin (0, 2.5, 5, 10, and 15 mg/kg) were supplemented with the basal diet to produce five dietary treatments with total riboflavin levels of 1.20, 3.70, 6.20, 10.20, and 16.20 mg/kg. A total of 120 pairs of White King pigeons, aged 60 wks, were randomly allocated into five treatment groups, each consisting of 24 pairs. Each pair was individually raised for 8 wks. After the experiment, an assessment was conducted to evaluate the reproductive performance of the pigeon breeders, as well as the growth and carcass traits of offspring squabs at 28 days of age. The results showed that the dietary riboflavin levels had no significant effect on body weight, feed intake, egg weight, egg production, and egg fertility (p > 0.05). However, pigeons fed a diet without riboflavin had the lowest egg hatchability, egg yolk color, carcass trait, and riboflavin status, while exhibiting higher liver weight and liver index (p < 0.05). Moreover, the indices above showed increased or decreased linearly as the level of riboflavin was increased in the diet. Based on the broken-line regression model, pigeon breeders were determined to require a dietary riboflavin content of 11.4, 13.6, 13.4, 6.60, 4.28, 4.47, 4.67, 6.69, and 6.82 mg/kg to optimize hatchability, eviscerated weight, half-eviscerated weight, breast muscle weight, breast muscle percentage, liver weight, liver index, egg yolk riboflavin, and squab plasma riboflavin, respectively. In conclusion, the optimal supplemental dosage of riboflavin in the diets of pigeon breeders is 13.6 mg/kg.

Proteomic Analysis of Egg Yolk Proteins During Embryonic Development in Wanxi White Goose

To investigate the alterations of yolk protein during embryonic development in Wanxi white goose, the egg yolk protein composition at days 0, 4, 7, 14, 18, and 25 of incubation (D0, D4, D7, D14, D18, and D25) was analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis combined with mass spectrometry. A total of 65 spots representing 11 proteins with significant abundance changes were detected. Apolipoprotein B-100, vitellogenin-1, vitellogenin-2-like, riboflavin-binding protein, and serotransferrin mainly participated in nutrient (lipid, riboflavin, and iron ion) transport, and vitellogenin-2-like showed a lower abundance after D14. Ovomucoid-like were involved in endopeptidase inhibitory activity and immunoglobulin binding and exhibited a higher expression after D18, suggesting a potential role in promoting the absorption of immunoglobulin and providing passive immune protection for goose embryos after D18. Furthermore, myosin-9 and actin (ACTB) were involved in the tight junction pathway, potentially contributing to barrier integrity. Serum albumin mainly participated in cytolysis and toxic substance binding. Therefore, the high expression of serum albumin, myosin-9, and ACTB throughout the incubation might protect the developing embryo. Apolipoprotein B-100, vitellogenin-1, vitellogenin-2-like, riboflavin-binding protein, and serotransferrin might play a crucial role in providing nutrition for embryonic development, and VTG-2-like was preferentially degraded/absorbed.

Effects of riboflavin deficiency on the lipid metabolism of duck breeders and duck embryos

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary riboflavin deficiency (RD) on the lipid metabolism of duck breeders and duck embryos. A total of 40 female 40-wk-old white Pekin duck breeders were randomly divided into 2 groups, received either RD diet (1.48 mg riboflavin/kg) or control diet (16.48 mg riboflavin/kg, CON) for 14 wk. Each group consisted of 20 duck breeders (10 replicates per group, 2 birds per replicate), and all experiment birds were single-caged. At the end of the experiment, reproductive performance, hepatic riboflavin, hepatic flavin mononucleotide (FMN), hepatic flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), hepatic morphology, hepatic lipid contents, and hepatic protein expression of duck breeders and duck embryos were measured. The results showed that the RD had no effect on egg production and egg fertility but reduced egg hatchability, duck embryo weight, hepatic riboflavin, FMN, and FAD status compared to results obtained in the CON group (all P < 0.05). Livers from RD ducks presented enlarged lipid droplets, excessive accumulation of total lipids, triglycerides, and free fatty acids (all P < 0.05). In addition to excessive lipids accumulation, medium-chain specific acyl-CoA dehydrogenase expression was downregulated (P < 0.05), and short-chain specific acyl-CoA dehydrogenase expression was upregulated in maternal and embryonic livers (P < 0.05). RD did not affect maternal hepatic acyl-CoA dehydrogenase family member 9 (ACAD9) expression, but duck embryonic hepatic ACAD9 expression was reduced in the RD group (P < 0.05). Collectively, dietary RD conditioned lower egg hatchability and inhibited the development of duck embryos. Increased accumulation of lipids, both maternal and embryo, was impaired due to the reduced flavin protein expression, which caused inhibition of hepatic lipids utilization. These findings suggest that abnormal duck embryonic growth and low hatchability caused by RD might be associated with disorders of lipid metabolism in maternal as well as embryos.

Transcriptional profiling of liver in riboflavin-deficient chicken embryos explains impaired lipid utilization, energy depletion, massive hemorrhaging, and delayed feathering

BACKGROUND

A strain of Leghorn chickens (rd/rd), unable to produce a functional riboflavin-binding protein, lays riboflavin-deficient eggs, in which all embryos suddenly die at mid-incubation (days 13-15). This malady, caused by riboflavin deficiency, leads to excessive lipid accumulation in liver, impaired β-oxidation of lipid, and severe hypoglycemia prior to death. We have used high-density chicken microarrays for time-course transcriptional scans of liver in chicken embryos between days 9-15 during this riboflavin-deficiency-induced metabolic catastrophe. For comparison, half of rd/rd embryos (n = 16) were rescued from this calamity by injection of riboflavin just prior to incubation of fertile eggs from rd/rd hens.

RESULTS

No significant differences were found between hepatic transcriptomes of riboflavin-deficient and riboflavin-rescued embryos at the first two ages (days 9 and 11). Overall, we found a 3.2-fold increase in the number of differentially expressed hepatic genes between day 13 (231 genes) and day 15 (734 genes). Higher expression of genes encoding the chicken flavoproteome was more evident in rescued- (15 genes) than in deficient-embryos (4 genes) at day 15. Diminished activity of flavin-dependent enzymes in riboflavin-deficient embryos blocks catabolism of yolk lipids, which normally serves as the predominant source of energy required for embryonic development.

CONCLUSIONS

Riboflavin deficiency in mid-stage embryos leads to reduced expression of numerous genes controlling critical functions, including β-oxidation of lipids, blood coagulation and feathering. Surprisingly, reduced expression of feather keratin 1 was found in liver of riboflavin-deficient embryos at e15, which could be related to their delayed feathering and sparse clubbed down. A large number of genes are expressed at higher levels in liver of riboflavin-deficient embryos; these up-regulated genes control lipid storage/transport, gluconeogenesis, ketogenesis, protein catabolism/ubiquitination and cell death.

Quiescin-sulfhydryl oxidase inhibits prion formation in vitro

Prions are infectious proteins that cause a group of fatal transmissible diseases in animals and humans. The scrapie isoform (PrP^Sc) of the cellular prion protein (PrP^C) is the only known component of the prion. Several lines of evidence have suggested that the formation and molecular features of PrP^Sc are associated with an abnormal unfolding/refolding process. Quiescin-sulfhydryl oxidase (QSOX) plays a role in protein folding by introducing disulfides into unfolded reduced proteins. Here we report that QSOX inhibits human prion propagation in protein misfolding cyclic amplification reactions and murine prion propagation in scrapie-infected neuroblastoma cells. Moreover, QSOX preferentially binds PrP^Sc from prion-infected human or animal brains, but not PrP^C from uninfected brains. Surface plasmon resonance of the recombinant mouse PrP (moPrP) demonstrates that the affinity of QSOX for monomer is significantly lower than that for octamer (312 nM vs 1.7 nM). QSOX exhibits much lower affinity for N-terminally truncated moPrP (PrP89-230) than for the full-length moPrP (PrP23-231) (312 nM vs 2 nM), suggesting that the N-terminal region of PrP is critical for the interaction of PrP with QSOX. Our study indicates that QSOX may play a role in prion formation, which may open new therapeutic avenues for treating prion diseases.

Oxidative protein folding and the Quiescin-sulfhydryl oxidase family of flavoproteins

Flavin-linked sulfhydryl oxidases participate in the net generation of disulfide bonds during oxidative protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum. Members of the Quiescin-sulfhydryl oxidase (QSOX) family catalyze the facile direct introduction of disulfide bonds into unfolded reduced proteins with the reduction of molecular oxygen to generate hydrogen peroxide. Current progress in dissecting the mechanism of QSOX enzymes is reviewed, with emphasis on the CxxC motifs in the thioredoxin and Erv/ALR domains and the involvement of the flavin prosthetic group. The tissue distribution and intra- and extracellular location of QSOX enzymes are discussed, and suggestions for the physiological role of these enzymes are presented. The review compares the substrate specificity and catalytic efficiency of the QSOX enzymes with members of the Ero1 family of flavin-dependent sulfhydryl oxidases: enzymes believed to play key roles in disulfide generation in yeast and higher eukaryotes. Finally, limitations of our current understanding of disulfide generation in metazoans are identified and questions posed for the future.

Regulation of ANKRD9 expression by lipid metabolic perturbations

Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) defects cause abnormal lipid accumulation in various tissues, which provides an opportunity to uncover novel genes that are involved in lipid metabolism. During a gene expression study in the riboflavin deficient induced FAO disorder in the chicken, we discovered the dramatic increase in mRNA levels of an uncharacterized gene, ANKRD9. No functions have been ascribed to ANKRD9 and its orthologs, although their sequences are well conserved among vertebrates. To provide insight into the function of ANKRD9, the expression of ANKRD9 mRNA in lipidperturbed paradigms was examined. The hepatic mRNA level of ANKRD9 was repressed by thyroid hormone (T(3)) and fasting, elevated by re-feeding upon fasting. However, ANKRD9 mRNA level is reduced in response to apoptosis. Transient transfection assay with green fluorescent protein tagged- ANKRD9 showed that this protein is localized within the cytoplasm. These findings point to the possibility that ANKRD9 is involved in intracellular lipid accumulation. [BMB reports 2009; 42(9): 568-573].

Multidomain flavin-dependent sulfhydryl oxidases

Eukaryotic flavin-dependent sulfhydryl oxidases catalyze oxidative protein folding with the generation of disulfides and the reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide. This review deals principally with the Quiescinsulfhydryl oxidases (QSOX) that are found in multiple forms in multicellular organisms and singly in a number of protozoan parasites. QSOX is an ancient fusion of thioredoxin domains and an FAD-binding module, ERV1/ALR. Interdomain disulfide exchanges transmit reducing equivalents from substrates to the flavin cofactor and thence to molecular oxygen. The in vitro substrate specificity of avian QSOX1 and the likely substrates of QSOXs in vivo are discussed. The location of QSOX immunoreactivity and mRNA expression levels in human cells and tissues is reviewed. Generally, there is a marked association of QSOX1 expression with cell types that have a high secretory load of disulfide-containing peptides and proteins. The abundance of sulfhydryl oxidases in the islets of Langerhans suggests that oxidative protein folding may directly contribute to the oxidative stress believed to be a factor in the progression to type II diabetes. Finally, the structure and mechanism of QSOX proteins is compared to their smaller stand-alone cousins: yeast ERV1p and ERV2p, the mammalian augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR), and the viral ALR homologs.

A sulfhydryl oxidase from chicken egg white

A dimeric glycoprotein containing one FAD per approximately 80,000 Mr subunit has been isolated from chicken egg white and found to have sulfhydryl oxidase activity with a range of small molecular weight thiols. Dithiothreitol was the best substrate of those tested, with a turnover number of 1030/min, a Km of 150 microM, and a pH optimum of about 7.5. Oxidation of thiol substrates generates hydrogen peroxide in aerobic solution. Anaerobically, the ferricenium ion is a facile alternative electron acceptor. Reduction of the oxidase with dithionite or dithiothreitol under anaerobic conditions yields a two-electron intermediate (EH2) showing a charge transfer band (lambdamax 560 nm; epsilonobs 2.5 mM-1 cm-1). Complete bleaching of the flavin and discharge of the charge transfer complex require a total of four electrons. Borohydride and catalytic photoreduction give the same spectral changes. EH2, but not the oxidized enzyme, is inactivated by iodoacetamide with alkylation of 2.7 cysteine residues/subunit. These data indicate that the oxidase contains a redox-active disulfide bridge generating a thiolate to oxidized flavin charge transfer complex at the EH2 level. Sulfite treatment does not form the expected flavin adduct with the native enzyme but cleaves the active site disulfide, yielding an air-stable EH2-like species. The close functional resemblance of the oxidase to the pyridine nucleotide-dependent disulfide oxidoreductase family is discussed.

Riboflavin-deficient chicken embryos: hypoglycemia without dicarboxylic aciduria

Chicken embryos in eggs laid by hens that are genetically unable to deposit riboflavin into their eggs die on or about the 13th day of incubation. We show that these riboflavin-deficient embryos grow normally until the day of death and that their heart rate is normal to within an hour of death. The embryos have symptoms of impaired fatty acid oxidation, including decreased activity of FAD-dependent medium-chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase in liver and heart along with a significant accumulation of intermediates of fatty acid oxidation (C10, C12, and C14 acids). Unlike riboflavin-deficient mammals, the embryos do not accumulate dicarboxylic acids derived from omega-oxidation of fatty acids. Blood glucose is near normal on day 10 but declines to undetectable levels by the time of death. Allantoic fluid from the riboflavin-deficient embryos of 11 days or older contains more lactate than 3-hydroxybutyrate, while in normal embryos the reverse is true. No appreciable amounts of glycine-conjugated acids were found. We conclude that the major and perhaps primary pathological effect of riboflavin deficiency in chicken embryos is the impairment of fatty acid beta-oxidation, and that the subsequent depletion of limited carbohydrate reserves leads to sudden death.