Global gene expression profiling of perirenal brown adipose tissue whitening in goat kids reveals novel genes linked to adipose remodeling

BACKGROUND

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is known to be capable of non-shivering thermogenesis under cold stimulation, which is related to the mortality of animals. In the previous study, we observed that goat BAT is mainly located around the kidney at birth, and changes to white adipose tissue (WAT) in the perirenal adipose tissue of goats within one month after birth. However, the regulatory factors underlying this change is remain unclear. In this study, we systematically studied the perirenal adipose tissue of goat kids in histological, cytological, and accompanying molecular level changes from 0 to 28 d after birth.

RESULTS

Our study found a higher mortality rate in winter-born goat kids, with goat birthing data statistics. Then we used thermal imaging revealing high temperature in goat hips at postnatal 0 d and gradually decrease during 28 d. This is consistent with the region of perirenal BAT deposition and highlights its critical role in energy expenditure and body temperature regulation in goat kids. Additionally, we found a series of changes of BAT during the first 28 d after birth, such as whitening, larger lipid droplets, decreased mitochondrial numbers, and down-regulation of key thermogenesis-related genes (UCP1, DIO2, UCP2, CIDEA, PPARGC1a, C/EBPb, and C/EBPa). Then, we used RNA-seq found specific marker genes for goat adipose tissue and identified 12 new marker genes for BAT and 10 new marker genes for WAT of goats. Furthermore, 12 candidate genes were found to potentially regulate goat BAT thermogenesis. The mechanism of the change of this biological phenomenon does not involve a large-scale death of brown adipocytes and subsequent proliferation of white adipocytes. While apoptosis may play a limited role, it is largely not critical in this transition process.

CONCLUSIONS

We concluded that perirenal BAT plays a crucial role in thermoregulation in newborn goat kids, with notable species differences in the expression of adipose tissue marker genes, and we highlighted some potential marker genes for goat BAT and WAT. Additionally, the change from BAT to WAT does not involve a large-scale death of brown adipocytes and subsequent proliferation of white adipocytes.

Diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted imaging and intravoxel incoherent motion for renal lesions: a meta-analysis

AIM

To compare the diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) parameters, specifically true diffusion coefficient (D), pseudo diffusion coefficient (D∗), and perfusion fraction (f) for quantitatively differentiating benign and malignant renal lesions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A comprehensive search was conducted in the EMBASE and PubMed databases before September 2022 to identify studies in English investigating the diagnostic accuracy of DWI and IVIM in renal lesions. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the QUADAS-2 tool. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) values were estimated for each parameter.

RESULTS

A total of 19 studies involving 1,860 renal lesions (1,160 malignant and 700 benign), met the inclusion criteria. Among these studies, 15 assessed the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), four assessed IVIM, and three evaluated both ADC and IVIM. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and AUC for ADC were 0.84 (95% confidence interval [Cl], 0.79-0.88), 0.82 (95% Cl, 0.72-0.89), and 0.89 (95% Cl, 0.86-0.92), respectively. The IVIM parameter with the highest diagnostic accuracy was D, with a pooled sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of 0.89 (95% Cl, 0.74-0.96), 0.96 (95% Cl, 0.85-0.99), and 0.98 (95% Cl, 0.96-0.99), respectively. The pooled sensitivity, specificity and AUC for f were 0.67 (95% Cl, 0.55-0.77), 0.81 (95% Cl, 0.30-0.98), and 0.73 (95% Cl, 0.69-0.77), respectively. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and AUC for D∗ were 0.87 (95% Cl, 0.81-0.91), 0.59 (95% Cl, 0.48-0.70), and 0.82 (95% Cl, 0.78-0.85), respectively.

CONCLUSION

This meta-analysis indicated that both IVIM and DWI had moderate to high diagnostic accuracy for differentiating benign and malignant renal lesions. Among the IVIM parameter, D exhibited the highest diagnostic accuracy, demonstrating higher sensitivity and specificity than ADC, D∗, and f.

Short-term dietary choline supplementation alters the gut microbiota and liver metabolism of finishing pigs

Choline is an essential nutrient for pig development and plays a role in the animal's growth performance, carcass characteristics, and reproduction aspects in weaned pigs and sows. However, the effect of choline on finishing pigs and its potential regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Here, we feed finishing pigs with 1% of the hydrochloride salt of choline, such as choline chloride (CHC), under a basic diet condition for a short period of time (14 days). A 14-day supplementation of CHC significantly increased final weight and carcass weight while having no effect on carcass length, average backfat, or eye muscle area compared with control pigs. Mechanically, CHC resulted in a significant alteration of gut microbiota composition in finishing pigs and a remarkably increased relative abundance of bacteria contributing to growth performance and health, including Prevotella, Ruminococcaceae, and Eubacterium. In addition, untargeted metabolomics analysis identified 84 differently abundant metabolites in the liver between CHC pigs and control pigs, of which most metabolites were mainly enriched in signaling pathways related to the improvement of growth, development, and health. Notably, there was no significant difference in the ability of oxidative stress resistance between the two groups, although increased bacteria and metabolites keeping balance in reactive oxygen species showed in finishing pigs after CHC supplementation. Taken together, our results suggest that a short-term supplementation of CHC contributes to increased body weight gain and carcass weight of finishing pigs, which may be involved in the regulation of gut microbiota and alterations of liver metabolism, providing new insights into the potential of choline-mediated gut microbiota/metabolites in improving growth performance, carcass characteristics, and health.

Comparison of Growth Performance and Plasma Metabolomics between Two Sire-Breeds of Pigs in China

The Yorkshire pigs, renowned for their remarkable growth rate, low feed conversion ratio (FCR), and high meat production, emerge as a novel preference for paternal breeding. In this study, we found that purebred paternal Yorkshire pigs (PY) surpass the purebred Duroc breed in terms of growth rate. Specifically, purebred PY attain a weight of 100 kg at an earlier age compared to purebred Duroc (Male, 145.07 vs. 162.91; Female, 145.91 vs. 167.57; p-value < 0.01). Furthermore, different hybrid combinations suggest that offspring involving purebred PY exhibit superior growth performance. Compared with purebred Duroc, the offspring of purebred PY have an earlier age in days (173.23 vs. 183.54; p-value < 0.05) at the same slaughter weight. The changes of plasma metabolites of 60-day-old purebred boars in the two sire-breeds showed that 1335 metabolites in plasma were detected. Compared with Duroc, 28 metabolites were down-regulated and 49 metabolites were up-regulated in PY. Principal component analysis (PCA) discerned notable dissimilarities in plasma metabolites between the two sire-breeds of pigs. The levels of glycerol 3-phosphate choline, cytidine, guanine, and arachidonic acid increased significantly (p-value < 0.05), exerting an impact on their growth and development. According to our results, PY could be a new paternal option as a terminal sire in three-way cross system.

Estimation of genetic parameters of pig reproductive traits

Introduction

In this study, we aimed to estimate the genetic parameters of the reproductive traits in three popular commercial pig breeds: Duroc, Landrace, and Yorkshire. Additionally, we evaluated the factors that influence these traits.

Method

We collected data from a large number of litters, including 1,887 Duroc, 21,787 Landrace, and 74,796 Yorkshire litters. Using the ASReml-R software to analyze 11 traits, which included: total number of pigs born (TNB); number of piglets born alive (NBA); number of piglets born healthy (NBH); number of piglets born weak (NBW); number of new stillborn piglets (NS); number of old stillborn piglets (OS); number of piglets born with malformation (NBM); number of mummified piglets (NM); total litter birthweight (LBW); litter average weight (LAW); duration of gestational period (GP). We investigated the effects of 4 fixed factors on the genetic parameters of these traits.

Results

Among the 11 reproductive-related traits, the gestational period belonged to the medium heritability traits (0.251-0.430), while remaining traits showed low heritability, ranging from 0.005 to 0.159. TNB, NBA, NBH, LBW had positive genetic correlation (0.737 ~ 0.981) and phenotype correlation (0.711 ~ 0.951). There was a negative genetic correlation between NBW and LAW (-0.452 ~ -0.978) and phenotypic correlation (-0.380 ~ -0.873). LBW was considered one of the most reasonable reproductive traits that could be used for breeding improvement. Repeatability of the three varieties was within the range of 0.000-0.097. In addition, the fixed effect selected in this study had a significant effect on Landrace and Yorkshire (p < 0.05).

Discussion

We found a positive correlation between LBW and TNB, NBA, and NBH, suggesting the potential for multi-trait association breeding. Factors such as farm, farrowing year, breeding season, and parity should be taken into consideration in practical production, as they may impact the reproductive performance of breeding pigs.

Copper-doped ZnO-ZrO2 solid solution catalysts for promoting methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation

Copper-doped ZnO-ZrO₂ solid solution catalysts were synthesized via co-precipitation for promoting CH₃OH synthesis via hydrogenation of CO₂. Various testing methods were applied to investigate the effect of various copper contents on the catalysts. The catalytic performance was evaluated by a fixed bed reactor. XRD, HRTEM and Raman spectra collectively indicated that a ZnO-ZrO₂ solid solution catalyst with 3% Cu had a higher Cu dispersion, while the H₂-TPR results confirmed that a catalyst with 3% Cu had more Cu active sites under low temperature H₂ pretreatment. When the copper content increased to 5% and 10%, the catalyst showed a better Cu crystallinity and a worse Cu dispersion, which could have a negative effect. Therefore, the CO₂ conversion and methanol yield with a 3% CuZnO-ZrO₂ catalyst at 5 MPa, 250°C and 12 000 ml/(g h) increased by 8.6% and 7.6%, respectively. Moreover, the CH₃OH selectivity and catalytic stability of the solid solution catalyst were better than those of the traditional CZA catalyst.

Full-length transcriptome profiling for fruit development in Diospyros oleifera using nanopore sequencing

OBJECTIVES

Diospyros oleifera, one of the most economically important Diospyros species, is an ideal model for studying the fruit development of persimmon. While, the lack of whole-transcriptome has hindered the complex transcriptional regulation mechanisms of sugar and tannin during fruit development.

DATA DESCRIPTION

We applied Oxford Nanopore Technologies to six developmental stage of fruit from D. oleifera for use in transcriptome sequencing. As a result of full-length transcriptome sequencing, 55.87 Gb of clean data were generated. After mapping onto the reference genome of D. oleifera, 51,588 full-length collapsing transcripts, including 2,727 new gene loci and 43,223 transcripts, were obtained. Comprehensively annotated, 38,086 of new transcripts were functional annotation, and 972 lncRNAs, 7,159 AS events were predicted. Here, we released the transcriptome database of D. oleifera at different stage of fruit development,which will provide a fundamention of to investigatethe transcript structure, variants and evolution of persimmon.

Characterization and phylogenetic analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Diospyros oleifera, the first representative from the family Ebenaceae

Plant mitochondrial genomes are a valuable source of genetic information for a better understanding of phylogenetic relationships. However, no mitochondrial genome of any species in Ebenaceae has been reported. In this study, we reported the first mitochondrial genome of an Ebenaceae model plant Diospyros oleifera. The mitogenome was 493,958 bp in length, contained 39 protein-coding genes, 27 transfer RNA genes, and 3 ribosomal RNA genes. The rps2 and rps11 genes were missing in the D. oleifera mt genome, while the rps10 gene was identified. The length of the repetitive sequence in the D. oleifera mt genome was 31 kb, accounting for 6.33%. A clear bias in RNA-editing sites were found in the D. oleifera mt genome. We also detected 28 chloroplast-derived fragments significantly associated with D. oleifera mt genes, indicating intracellular tRNA genes transferred frequently from chloroplasts to mitochondria in D. oleifera. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mt genomes of D. oleifera and 27 other taxa reflected the exact evolutionary and taxonomic status of D. oleifera. Ka/Ks analysis revealed that 95.16% of the protein-coding genes in the D. oleifera mt genome had undergone negative selections. But, the rearrangement of mitochondrial genes has been widely occur among D. oleifera and these observed species. These results will lay the foundation for identifying further evolutionary relationships within Ebenaceae.

Highly selective conversion of CO2 to methanol on the CuZnO-ZrO2 solid solution with the assistance of plasma

CuZnO–ZrO₂–C was prepared by a co-precipitation method. For comparison, CuZnO–ZrO₂–PC and CuZnO–ZrO₂–CP were prepared by glow discharge plasma. The catalysts were characterized via the XRD, N₂ adsorption–desorption, TEM, SEM, EDS, XPS, CO₂-TPD and H₂-TPR techniques. The catalysts were comparatively investigated for CO₂ conversion and methanol selectivity in a fixed-bed reactor under the condition of 2 MPa, 250 °C, H₂/CO₂ = 3/1 and GHSV = 12 000 mL g⁻¹ h⁻¹. The results showed that the activities of the catalysts increased in the order of CuZnO–ZrO₂–PC > CuZnO–ZrO₂–CP > CuZnO–ZrO₂–C. Moreover, the CO₂ conversion of CuZnO–ZrO₂–C increased by 38.9% via treatment with glow discharge plasma. The results are well explained based on the CO₂-TPD and H₂-TPR characterizations of the catalysts.

CuZnO–ZrO₂–C was prepared by a co-precipitation method.

The Laser Rangefinder System in Quadrature Modem and Ambiguity Resolution

We propose a laser rangefinder system based on the quadrature modem to achieve amplitude modulation, the method improves the accuracy of the phase measuring and simplifies the hardware design compared to the system with the secondary mixing methods, and to solve the range ambiguity caused by the measuring process, the ranging ambiguity resolving algorithm based on the over-determined equation is proposed, which avoids the searching of the optimal solution, finally the two K60 laser rangefinders and three proposed rangefinders were experimented on the national standard baseline with the precision of 0.18 mm. the measuring time of the proposed system is less than 1.8 s, the average measuring error of those three prototypes is less than 2 mm, and the standard deviation is less than 1 mm within the measuring range 0~60 m. The experimental results show that the proposed design system of the rangefinder has higher measurement accuracy and speed in comparison with the traditional ones, which indicates the high reliability of the proposed design system.

Detoxification of aflatoxin B1 by enzymes isolated from Armillariella tabescens

Detoxification of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) by Armillariella tabescens multienzyme, which was isolated from mycelium pellets of A. tabescens, was confirmed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and rat assay. The results of toxicology and pathology studies showed that toxicity of AFB1 was minimized after treatment with A. tabescens multienzyme. The result of the Ames test indicated that the mutagenic activity of multienzyme-treated AFB1 was greatly reduced (or inactivated) compared with that of untreated controls. TLC determinations showed that AFB1 at an initial concentration of 16 microM was completely detoxified (100%) by the fungal multienzyme. The infrared spectrum suggests that the multienzyme is responsible for opening the difuran ring of AFB1.