The Milk Metabolome of Non-secretor and Lewis Negative Mothers

Introduction: The functional role of milk for the developing neonate is an area of great interest, and a significant amount of research has been done. However, a lot of work remains to fully understand the complexities of milk, and the variations imposed through genetics. It has previously been shown that both secretor (Se) and Lewis blood type (Le) status impacts the human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) content of human milk. While some studies have compared the non-HMO milk metabolome of Se+ and Se− women, none have reported on the non-HMO milk metabolome of Se− and Le– mothers.Method and Results: To determine the differences in the non-HMO milk metabolome between Se–Le– mothers and other HMO phenotypes (Se+Le+, Se+Le–, and Se–Le+), 10 milk samples from 10 lactating mothers were analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Se or Le HMO phenotypes were assigned based on the presence and absence of 6 HMOs generated by the Se and Le genes. After classification, 58 milk metabolites were compared among the HMO phenotypes. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified clear separation between Se–Le– milk and the other milks. Fold change analysis demonstrated that the Se–Le– milk had major differences in free fatty acids, free amino acids, and metabolites related to energy metabolism.Conclusion: The results of this brief research report suggest that the milk metabolome of mothers with the Se–Le– phenotype differs in its non-HMO metabolite composition from mothers with other HMO phenotypes.

Integrative Analysis of miRNA-mRNA and miRNA-miRNA Interactions

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding regulatory molecules. They are involved in many essential biological processes and act by suppressing gene expression. The present work reports an integrative analysis of miRNA-mRNA and miRNA-miRNA interactions and their regulatory patterns using high-throughput miRNA and mRNA datasets. Aberrantly expressed miRNA and mRNA profiles were obtained based on fold change analysis, and qRT-PCR was used for further validation of deregulated miRNAs. miRNAs and target mRNAs were found to show various expression patterns. miRNA-miRNA interactions and clustered/homologous miRNAs were also found to contribute to the flexible and selective regulatory network. Interacting miRNAs (e.g., miRNA-103a and miR-103b) showed more pronounced differences in expression, which suggests the potential “restricted interaction” in the miRNA world. miRNAs from the same gene clusters (e.g., miR-23b gene cluster) or gene families (e.g., miR-10 gene family) always showed the same types of deregulation patterns, although they sometimes differed in expression levels. These clustered and homologous miRNAs may have close functional relationships, which may indicate collaborative interactions between miRNAs. The integrative analysis of miRNA-mRNA based on biological characteristics of miRNA will further enrich miRNA study.

Performance and Fatty Acid Composition of Adipose Tissue, Breast and Thigh in Broilers Fed Flaxseed: A Review

Interest on the enrichment of poultry meat with n-3 fatty acids has increased given its important role in human health. Flaxseed is the main sources of n-3 fatty acids, and contains between 45 to 71% of total fatty acids of the oil as α-linolenic acid. This paper reviews the plausibility of n-3 enrichment. Its focus is on the processing of flaxseed and begins by summarizing the benefits of supplementation on broiler performance. The literature on altering the FA deposition in different tissues is then reviewed, and the factors that affect the incorporation of n-3 PUFA into edible tissues of poultry are investigated. Flaxseed supplementation caused a reduction in the abdominal fat pad, and the main fatty acid deposited in the tissue is LNA. The use of fold-change analysis allowed interpreting and determining the variation of results within experiments that do not report data in similar units of measure. The fold change analysis identified three categories of desaturation response to feeding flaxseed to broilers, resulting in different values for EPA and DHA in both breast and thigh tissues: high, medium and low fold-changes. The use of flaxseed oil, whole or ground flaxseed 14 to 21 day before slaughter is recommended to poultry producers as feeding strategies to optimize n-3 enrichment, without compromising animal performance. Enriched DHA deposition could be accomplished feeding whole flaxseed.