Wu Zhiwu, Yang Yanyan, Wang Biao, Gebeyew Kefyalew, Tang Shaoxun, Han Xuefeng, He Zhixiong, Tan Zhiliang
CAS Key Laboratory for Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, National Engineering Laboratory for Pollution Control and Waste Utilization in Livestock and Poultry Production, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Physiology and Metabolic Process, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China.
Biology (Basel). 2023 Nov 16;12(11):1436. doi: 10.3390/biology12111436.
Ewes undergo complex metabolic changes during pregnancy. Understanding the specific process of these changes is a necessary prerequisite in ewes for regulating and intervening in order to maintain pregnancies. However, there have been relatively few studies on the specific changes that occur in nutritional metabolism in pregnant ewes during early gestation, especially for some landrace ewes in highly cold areas. Therefore, this study aimed to (1) elucidate the changes in metabolites and microbial communities in pregnant ewes during early gestation using metabolomics and 16S ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) amplicon sequencing approaches, and to (2) discover novel early pregnancy-induced biomarkers in the blood and faeces. Rams were placed together with ewes on D0 and removed on D45. During early gestation, blood and faecal samples were collected from ewes in a highly cold area for analysing the metabolites and microbial communities; these were retrospectively classified as the early gestation pregnant (EP) ewe group or the nonpregnant (NP) ewe group based on the lambing status recorded during the expected delivery period. The differences in the plasma biochemical parameters, plasma metabolites, and faecal microbial communities of pregnant and nonpregnant ewes were characterised. The GC, IL-6, O-acetyl-l-serine, L-glutamine, and 6-acetamido-2-oxohexanoic acid were screened out as potential biomarkers for evaluating the occurrence of early pregnancy. These novel early pregnancy-induced metabolites discovered in ewes might allow for the development of technologies to detect early pregnancies in sheep in highly cold areas.
母羊在怀孕期间会经历复杂的代谢变化。了解这些变化的具体过程是调控和干预母羊以维持妊娠的必要前提。然而，关于妊娠早期母羊营养代谢发生的具体变化的研究相对较少，特别是对于高寒地区的一些地方品种母羊。因此，本研究旨在（1）使用代谢组学和16S核糖体RNA基因（rDNA）扩增子测序方法阐明妊娠早期母羊代谢物和微生物群落的变化，并（2）发现血液和粪便中由妊娠早期诱导产生的新型生物标志物。在第0天将公羊与母羊放在一起，并在第45天移走。在妊娠早期，从高寒地区的母羊采集血液和粪便样本以分析代谢物和微生物群落；根据预期分娩期记录的产羔状况，将这些样本回顾性地分为妊娠早期怀孕（EP）母羊组或未怀孕（NP）母羊组。对怀孕和未怀孕母羊的血浆生化参数、血浆代谢物和粪便微生物群落的差异进行了表征。筛选出气相色谱（GC）、白细胞介素-6（IL-6）、O-乙酰-L-丝氨酸、L-谷氨酰胺和6-乙酰氨基-2-氧代己酸作为评估早期妊娠发生的潜在生物标志物。在母羊中发现的这些由妊娠早期诱导产生的新型代谢物可能有助于开发检测高寒地区绵羊早期妊娠的技术。
