Gender dimorphism in the exercise-naïve murine skeletal muscle proteome

Abstract

Skeletal muscle is a plastic tissue with known gender dimorphism, especially at the metabolic level. A proteomic comparison of male and female murine biceps brachii was undertaken, resolving an average of 600 protein spots of MW 15-150 kDa and pI 5-8. Twenty-six unique full-length proteins spanning 11 KOG groups demonstrated statistically significant (p<0.05) abundance differences between genders; the majority of these proteins have metabolic functions. Identified glycolytic enzymes demonstrated decreased abundance in females, while abundance differences in identified oxidative phosphorylation enzymes were specific to the proteins rather than to the functional group as a whole. Certain cytoskeletal and stress proteins showed specific expression differences, and all three phosphorylation states of creatine kinase showed significant decreased abundance in females. Expression differences were significant but many were subtle (≤ 2-fold), and known hormonally-regulated proteins were not identified. We conclude that while gender dimorphism is present in non-exercised murine skeletal muscle, the proteome comparison of male and female biceps brachii in exercise-naïve mice indicates subtle differences rather than a large or obviously hormonal dimorphism.

Gender-dependent Protein Expression in White Adipose Tissues of Lean and Obese Rats Fed a High Fat Diet

“…In this regard, we hypothesized that male rats undergo slower fat oxidation, thereby leading to excessive accumulation of dietary fat in white adipose tissues when compared with female rats. Similar genderdimorphism was observed in non-exercised mice muscle [73].…”

Gender Dimorphism in Skeletal Muscle Proteome Between Lean and Diet-induced Obese Rats

“…Therefore, down-regulated troponin T fast may result in loss of muscle force and contractile speed when exposed to HFD. This pattern was confirmed by the significantly decreased Troponin T fast at both the protein level [26] and transcript level [24] in the muscle of other determinants of force and velocity in muscle fibers [31]. It is interesting to note that myosin light chain 1 (MLC1) was dominantly expressed in gastrocnemius muscle and showed weak gender differences, whereas MLC3 was dominantly expressed in soleus muscle with significant gender dimorphism.…”

“…Metskas et al [26] analyzed the skeletal muscle proteome and found that glycolytic enzymes were less abundant in females, which suggests that females rely on lipid oxidation more than males. However, two glycolytic proteins (GP and -enolase) identified in this study did not show gender differences and differences were only observed in response to the HFD.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, only two proteomics studies concerning gender dimorphism have been reported. Metskas et al [26] found 26 proteins that were statistically significant different in regards to abundance between genders. They showed that glycolytic enzymes were less abundant in females in non-exercised murine skeletal muscle.…”

Gender Difference in Proteome of Brown Adipose Tissues between Male and Female Rats Exposed to a High Fat Diet

“…To date, several proteomics studies have been conducted in an effort to reveal gender differences in protein expression patterns in blood [37,38], muscle [39], kidney [40], brain [41], and sperm [42]. However, to the best of our knowledge, no comparative proteomic study in biofluids or metabolic organ tissues of lean and obese animal models for examination of protein abundance and/ or regulation patterns between genders has been conducted.…”