Afedo Seth Yaw, Cui Yan, Yu Sijiu, Liao Bo, Zhao Zihan, Li Hui, Zhang Huizhu, Zou Shengnan, Li De Hong, Zhang Peng
College of Veterinary Medicine, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China.
Gansu Province Livestock Embryo Engineering Research Center, College of Veterinary Medicine, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China.
Animals (Basel). 2020 Sep 23;10(10):1731. doi: 10.3390/ani10101731.
Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), an enzyme expressed in mammalian testes, exerts a direct effect on spermatogenesis; however, its protein characteristics in bovine testes remain unknown. Here, we analysed bovine testicular structure, MTHFR bioinformatics profile, mRNA, and protein expression characteristics in yellow-cattle (y-c) and yak testis using histological procedures, bioinformatics analysis, qRT-PCR, and western blot. Testes from 13 bovines, ≤2 years juvenile (y-c, = 3; yak, = 3) and ≥3 years adult (y-c, = 3; yak, = 4) were collected and analysed. Anatomical characteristics of testis in y-c and yak were similar except the weight or size for which that of y-c was significantly higher or greater than yak. In y-c, an open reading frame (ORF) for 2600 nucleotides sequence, encoding 655 amino acids showed high homology with zebu cattle (99.51%) and wild yak (98.68%). Secondary and 3D protein structures were similar to that of humans with differences in the number of nucleotides, amino acids, and some physico-chemical characteristics. MTHFR mRNA expression in y-c and yak were significantly higher in adult testes compared with juvenile ones. However, its protein expression was higher, but not statistically significant, in adult y-c and yak compared to the juvenile ones. The highlights and inferences of these and other findings are discussed.
亚甲基四氢叶酸还原酶（MTHFR）是一种在哺乳动物睾丸中表达的酶，对精子发生有直接影响；然而，其在牛睾丸中的蛋白质特征仍不清楚。在此，我们使用组织学方法、生物信息学分析、qRT-PCR和蛋白质印迹法，分析了黄牛（y-c）和牦牛睾丸中的牛睾丸结构、MTHFR生物信息学概况、mRNA和蛋白质表达特征。收集并分析了13头年龄≤2岁的幼年牛（y-c，3头；牦牛，3头）和≥3岁的成年牛（y-c，3头；牦牛，4头）的睾丸。y-c和牦牛睾丸的解剖特征相似，但y-c的重量或大小明显高于或大于牦牛。在y-c中，一个编码655个氨基酸的2600个核苷酸序列的开放阅读框（ORF）与瘤牛（99.51%）和野牦牛（98.68%）具有高度同源性。二级和三维蛋白质结构与人类相似，但在核苷酸数量、氨基酸数量和一些物理化学特征方面存在差异。与幼年睾丸相比，y-c和牦牛成年睾丸中MTHFR mRNA表达显著更高。然而，与幼年相比，其在成年y-c和牦牛中的蛋白质表达更高，但无统计学意义。本文讨论了这些发现及其他发现的要点和推论。
