Polymorphism of the BCO2 gene and the content of carotenoids, retinol, and α-tocopherol in the liver and fat of rabbits

Abstract

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of AAT-deletion mutation at codon 248 of the BCO2 gene on the content of lutein, β-carotene, retinol, and α-tocopherol in the liver and fat of crossbred rabbits. The experimental animals comprised 90 rabbits, produced by reciprocal crossing between ins/del heterozygous parents of Flemish Giant, New Zealand Red, and Termond White breeds. All rabbits in the litter were genotyped, given the same diet, and finally slaughtered at 140 d of age. It was found that regardless of the mating scheme employed, all del/del homozygotes had the yellow fat trait, whereas heterozygous and homozygotes animals without the AAT deletion (ins/ins) developed white fat. Lutein concentration in fat was over 13-fold higher in rabbits carrying a homozygous AAT-deletion than in the remaining animals. A codon deletion in the BCO2 gene also contributes to an increase in the concentrations of β-carotene and α-tocopherol in the adipose tissue of rabbits. However, no differences were observed in the content of the analyzed components between heterozygous and homozygous rabbits without the deletion.How to cite: Strychalski, J.; Gugołek, A.; Brym, P.; Antoszkiewicz, Z. and Chwastowska-Siwiecka, I. 2019. Polymorphism of the BCO2 gene and the content of carotenoids, retinol, and α-tocopherol in the liver and fat of rabbits. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia 48:e20180243.

Rabbit Genetic Resources Can Provide Several Animal Models to Explain at the Genetic Level the Diversity of Morphological and Physiological Relevant Traits

“…An in-frame deletion of three nucleotides in the coding sequence of this gene gene was reported to be the causative mutation of the Yellow fat recessive allele [134]. Homozygous rabbits for this mutation have an increased accumulation of xanthophylls and beta-carotene in the liver, muscle, adipose tissue, and milk without any negative effects on growth and maternal performances compared to heterozygous or homozygous rabbits for the wild type allele [135][136][137].…”

Ionone Is More than a Violet’s Fragrance: A Review

“…BCO2 may play a role in the prevention of hepatic steatosis [ 32 ]. Deficiency/mutations in BCO2 led to buildup of carotenoids in adipose tissue in various animals and in mitochondria in a mouse model [ 32 , 33 , 38 , 39 ]. Carotenoids in turn can cause oxidative stress and thus apoptosis.…”

Characterization and Function Analysis of β, β-carotene-9′, 10′-oxygenase 2 (BCDO2) Gene in Carotenoid Metabolism of the Red Shell Hard Clam (Meretrix meretrix)

“…Increasing studies have shown that the polymorphism of BCDO2 gene is related to color traits (Wu et al, 2020). For instance, the nonsense mutations of BCDO2 gene in the cattle lead to increased carotenoids in milk (Berry et al, 2009), while the yellow fat traits of sheep and rabbit are correlated with mutations in the coding region of BCDO2 gene (Vge and Boman, 2010;Strychalski et al, 2015Strychalski et al, , 2019Niu et al, 2016). In addition, studies have found that some polymorphic loci of BCDO2 gene are completely linked to the skin color traits of chickens (Eriksson et al, 2008;Xu et al, 2017).…”