Identification of key Genes and Pathways Associated With Thermal Stress in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Holstein Dairy Cattle

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to identify key genes and biological pathways associated with thermal stress in Chinese Holstein dairy cattle. Hence, we constructed a cell-model, applied various molecular biology experimental techniques and bioinformatics analysis. A total of 55 candidate genes were screened from published literature and the IPA database to examine its regulation under cold (25°C) or heat (42°C) stress in PBMCs. We identified 29 (3 up-regulated and 26 down-regulated) and 41 (15 up-regulated and 26 down-regulated) significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (fold change ≥ 1.2-fold and P < 0.05) after cold and heat stress treatments, respectively. Furthermore, bioinformatics analyses confirmed that major biological processes and pathways associated with thermal stress include protein folding and refolding, protein phosphorylation, transcription factor binding, immune effector process, negative regulation of cell proliferation, autophagy, apoptosis, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, estrogen signaling pathway, pathways related to cancer, PI3K- Akt signaling pathway, and MAPK signaling pathway. Based on validation at the cellular and individual levels, the mRNA expression of the HIF1A gene showed upregulation during cold stress and the EIF2A, HSPA1A, HSP90AA1, and HSF1 genes showed downregulation after heat exposure. The RT-qPCR and western blot results revealed that the HIF1A after cold stress and the EIF2A, HSPA1A, HSP90AA1, and HSF1 after heat stress had consistent trend changes at the cellular transcription and translation levels, suggesting as key genes associated with thermal stress response in Holstein dairy cattle. The cellular model established in this study with PBMCs provides a suitable platform to improve our understanding of thermal stress in dairy cattle. Moreover, this study provides an opportunity to develop simultaneously both high-yielding and thermotolerant Chinese Holstein cattle through marker-assisted selection.

Identification of Novel Mrna Isoforms Associated with Acute Heat Stress Response Using RNA-Sequencing Data in The Sprague-Dawley Rats

“…Numerous studies have revealed the Hsp90aa1 gene can be significantly upregulated in a tissue-specific and time-dependent manner after heat stress [71]. Moreover, our previous study also confirmed the important role of HSP70AA1 in dairy cattle [72]. Thus, the Hsp90aa1 plays pivotal role in heat stress response.…”

Min pig skeletal muscle response to cold stress

“…The estrogen signaling pathway is a temperature-sensitive pathway. It can be induced by not only cold stress but also by heat stress [ 55 , 56 ]. Estrogens are not only crucial in sexual maturation and reproduction but are also highly involved in a wide range of brain functions, and they play crucial roles in skeletal muscle homeostasis and exercise capacity [ 57 , 58 ].…”

Short heat shock has a long-term effect on mesenchymal stem cells’ transcriptome

“…We were particularly interested in identifying the long-term effect of thermal stress on cell proliferation, differentiation, and immunomodulation capacities; as those key MSC features were amongst the most abundant GO term groups. To examine the relevance of our data to physiological heat stress, we compared our DEGs to a list of 55 genes defined as thermal stress responsive in a bovine study done in vivo (Fang et al, 2021): 36 of the 55 genes were found to be differentially expressed following short, long or both HS groups. The genes EIF2A, HSPA1A, HSP90AA1, and HSF1 were considered by the authors key genes that responded to thermal stress of Holstein dairy cattle.…”